CARBONDALE, Ill. – After tying the game in the top of the ninth inning, the University of Evansville baseball team fell in heart-breaking fashion on Saturday afternoon as Southern Illinois' Greg Lambert cleared the wall in left center with a walk-off three-run blast to down the Purple Aces in 5-2 fashion at Itchy Jones Stadium.
 
Lambert, who finished the day 2-for-3 at the plate, secured the first series decision of the conference season for the Salukis, who improved to 14-14 overall and 2-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Meanwhile, the Aces dropped to 8-19 and 0-2 in the league.
 
It was a second consecutive pitching duel in Carbondale, with SIU's Michael Baird leading the way. The junior right-hander pitched into the ninth inning, giving up just four hits and striking out seven before issuing his first two walks of the game in that final frame.
 
For the Aces, Connor Strain went toe-to-toe with Baird over five innings, conceding just one run on four hits before Austin Allinger came in to toss 3.1 frames. Allinger, a sophomore out of West Chester, Ohio, allowed an unearned run in the seventh and was on the hook for one of the three runs scored by SIU in the ninth. With the loss, he dropped to 2-1 on the year.
 
"I think Connor and Baird are two of the best pitchers in the conference," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "Through the two games this weekend, regardless of how we've played offensively, our starting pitching has put us in the position to win in 'winning time.' We've just haven't found a way to win in those seventh, eighth and ninth innings. If we can start to do some of the little things better, we'll start winning some of these close ball games."
 
The game-deciding home run was hit off UE reliever Brandon Gomer, who picked up an out before getting pegged with two earned runs.
 
SIU drew first blood in the game in the fifth as Connor Kopach led off the frame with a walk. He'd steal second and move to third on a groundout before a wild pitch gave the Salukis the lead. Kopach played a role in the second run as well as he reached on a fielder's choice and stole second base once again. With two outs, Lambert hit a high fly ball into the sun in fair territory down the third base line, but the ball would hit off the glove of UE catcher Travis Tokarek. Kopach took advantage of the balls hangtime, coming all the way around from second to double the Saluki advantage.
 
In the ninth, the Trey Hair and Kenton Crews led off with walks to chase Baird from the mound. The duo executed a double steal with one out, and Andrew Tanous, who notched a walk-off hit of his own against Western Michigan earlier this season, cashed in with another clutch base hit in the ninth, singling up the middle to plate the pair and set up for the dramatic bottom half of the ninth.
 
Tanous, who was the only Ace with multiple hits a day ago, ended the game 1-for-4 at the plate.
 
UE will return to action on Sunday at Itchy Jones Stadium. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
 
NOTES: Friday's ballgame kicked off UE's 23^rd season of Missouri Valley Conference baseball … With the loss, UE has still never won a Valley opening series on the road … UE is now 60-69 against the Salukis since 1978, which includes a 39-39 mark in MVC regular-season contests … The Aces have won or split 14 of the 23 league series in which they've played against SIU … UE is 249-224 in that time span against Illinois schools … Since 1987, the Aces are 328-277 in the month of April and 19-5 on April 1 … Andrew Tanous extended his on-base streak to 15 games, which is the longest such streak for a UE hitter this season.
 
=== #AcesAces ===