CARBONDALE, Ill. – Two-out scoring came back to haunt the University of Evansville baseball team on Sunday afternoon as the Purple Aces dropped an 8-3 decision to Southern Illinois at Itchy Jones Stadium.
 
"Getting that big pitch or big hit has kind of been an issue for us all season, but you have to give a lot of credit to Southern Illinois," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "They put in a heck of an effort this weekend. They had the better of us in every aspect. There's a reason they were picked as a team that has a chance to make a run for that Missouri Valley Conference championship."
 
With the loss, the Aces suffered their second series sweep of the season, dropping to 8-20 overall and 0-3 in league play. SIU, which was considered one of the preseason favorites for the Missouri Valley Conference crown this season, improved to 15-14 and 3-0.
 
The Salukis got started in the first with score that foreshadowed the game's outcome. A two-out single from Logan Blackfan plated Connor Kopach before UE starter Justin Hayden could work out of the frame with a fielder's choice.
 
Brendan Krob, who earned his first career run batted in earlier this weekend, launched a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left field to tie the game up in the ensuing half-inning. Krob, a freshman out of Justice, Ill., ended with the first two-hit game of his career, but he was the only Ace with multiple hits as the team was out-hit by the hosts 14-5.
 
In the fourth, a one-out Jake Hand triple got things started for the Salukis. A Hunter Anderson single restored the one-run lead, and Kopach doubled it with a two-out single up the middle to make it 3-1.
 
It looked as if the Aces would respond in the fifth after back-to-back walks by Jimmy Day and Craig Shepherd chased SIU starter Joey Marciano from the mound. Reliever Austin McPheron followed up by issuing a walk to Kenton Crews to load the bases, but UE was only able to cash in a single score as Trey Hair hit into a double play and Korbin Williams popped out to end the frame.
 
Marciano was on the hook for the first two Aces runs, and McPheron earned the win to improve to 3-3 after allowing one score in 2.1 innings of work.
 
SIU would go on to score another two-out run off Hayden in the sixth. The junior ended with four earned runs and a career-best seven strikeouts over 5.2 frames. He dropped to 2-4 on the season.
 
Hair cut the deficit back to one with an infield single in the top of the seventh, but the Salukis put it out of reach on the opposite side of the stretch as both Jack Cavanaugh and Adam Lukas were a single strike away from getting out of the frame on four consecutive SIU hitters. Each time, the Saluki batter came away with a hit, setting the stage for another Kopach single that made it 7-3 in favor of the hosts.
 
Kopach led the way for the Salukis with a 4-for-5 day at the plate with three RBI. Greg Lambert, who hit the walk-off home run on Saturday, ended 3-for-5, and both Logan Blackfan and Hunter Anderson were 2-for-4.
 
A two-out Dyllin Mucha single off Hunter Porterfield in the eighth accounted for the game's final score.
 
UE will return to action on Wednesday with the annual Battle at the Braun against Southern Indiana. First pitch is set for 6 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 60-70 against the Salukis since 1978, which includes a 39-40 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 249-225 in that time span against Illinois schools … Since 1987, the Aces are 328-278 in the month of April and 12-12 on April 1 … Andrew Tanous extended his on-base streak to 16 games, which is the longest such streak for a UE hitter this season.
 
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