CARBONDALE, Ill. – Patrick Schnieders enjoyed one of the best outings of his Aces career on Friday night, but a seventh-inning rally dealt him a hard-luck no-decision as the senior pitcher struck out 12 in a 3-2 loss to Southern Illinois at Itchy Jones Stadium.
The contest, a second consecutive one-run loss for the Aces, saw the team move to 8-18 on the year and 0-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Meanwhile, SIU improved to 13-14 and 1-0, respectively.
Schnieders was at his best early as he fanned the first three SIU batters of the game on the way to allowing just two hits over 6.2 innings. It was the third time in seven starts this season that the Westphalia, Mo., native had logged double-digit strikeouts.
"What an unbelievable outing for Patrick Schnieders," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "He's been unbelievably sharp all year. He had a good three-pitch mix and did a great job of keeping SIU off-balance. Chad Whitmer was lights-out as well, and he had wipeout stuff. It's unfortunate that we wasted a start like that, but I liked our fight. We stayed competitive, even when we fell behind. Hopefully we can come out and get the win tomorrow to put ourselves in a position to try and win a series on the road."
Whitmer (2-2) held the Aces to just two runs on six hits in 7.2 innings of work.
UE got on the board first in the second as a Travis Tokarek single and Andrew Tanous double put runners on second and third for Stewart Nelson, who followed up with a groundout to short to allow the first run to cross. Brendan Krob kept it going with a deep fly ball to center to double the UE advantage.
Tanous was the only Ace to record multiple hits on the day, ending 2-for-4 while both Tokarek and Nelson ended 1-for-4. As a team, the Aces out-hit the Salukis 7-5.
An inning later, a Hunter Anderson walk came back to haunt the Aces as he'd ultimately score on a Connor Kopach sacrifice fly to halve the deficit.
After going down quietly for much of the ensuing three frames, SIU surged ahead in the seventh, beginning with a one-out walk to Logan Blackfan that brought out Ryan Brady from the UE bullpen. The junior right-hander picked up a strikeout immediately before an Anderson single put runners on the corners. A wild pitch allowed the first run to score and a Ryan Smith single plated another to give SIU the lead for good.
The Aces and Salukis will return to Itchy Jones Stadium on Saturday. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.
NOTES: Friday's ballgame kicked off UE's 23
rd season of Missouri Valley Conference baseball … The Aces have won the opening series of conference play in the Valley on seven occasions … UE has never won a Valley opening series on the road … UE is now 60-68 against the Salukis since 1978, which includes a 39-38 mark in MVC regular-season contests … The Aces have won or split 14 of the 22 league series in which they've played against SIU … UE is now 249-223 in that time span against Illinois schools … Since 1987, the Aces are 325-263-2 in the month of March and 5-11 on the 31
st … The Aces are 1-5 in one-run games this season … Korbin Williams ended the day 0-for-4, which put the brakes on a seven-game hitting streak that included multiple hits in each of the past four … Andrew Tanous extended his on-base streak to 14 games, which is the longest such streak for a UE hitter this season.
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