Box Score (HTML)
Box Score (PDF)
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The visiting Southern Illinois University Salukis pounded out 16 base hits on Saturday, including five extra-base hits, as SIU posted an 11-5 victory over the University of Evansville baseball team in the 2009 regular-season finale for both teams at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
SIU grabbed a lead it would never lose in the third inning, as the Salukis opened the inning with a double by third baseman Tony Lepore, an RBI triple by second baseman Scott Elmendorf, an RBI double by first baseman Mark Kelly and an RBI single by shortstop Michael Stalter to take a 3-0 lead.
Evansville would answer back with two runs in the third inning, as senior outfielder Jim Viscomi launched his sixth home run of the year, a towering two-run blast to dead center field to trim the UE deficit to 3-2.
The two teams would trade two-run frames in the fourth inning, as an RBI double by freshman second baseman Trentt Copeland and an RBI sacrifice bunt by senior catcher Andrew Gher provided UE’s two runs to move the score to 5-4. SIU would then take advantage of Evansville’s only error of the series to score three unearned runs in the sixth inning to grab an 8-4 lead.
The two teams would trade single runs again in the seventh inning thanks to a run-scoring wild pitch and an RBI single by UE sophomore third baseman Cody Fick, but UE could get no closer, as the Salukis tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning to post the 11-5 victory.
“This is obviously not how we wanted to end our season, but I am still very proud of this team for the growth that they showed during the course of the season,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “We made a lot of strides this season as a team, and while we still have some work to do as a team to get to where we want to be, I feel like we are definitely headed in the right direction as a program.”
Kelly led all players by going 4-for-5 for Southern Illinois with two doubles and three RBI. Copeland, meanwhile, led Evansville by going 3-for-4 at the plate. Viscomi also went 2-for-5 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and two RBI in his final game as a Purple Ace. Gher also recorded an RBI and fellow senior Andy Smith had a base hit in their final games at UE as well.
With the victory, Southern Illinois improves to 23-26 overall and 11-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference and the Salukis will be the fifth seed in next week’s State Farm MVC Tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Evansville, meanwhile, concludes the 2009 season with a 25-30 overall record and 7-17 conference mark. The Purple Aces will return 20 players from this year’s squad next season, and the 25 victories under first-year coach Wes Carroll rank as the second-highest victory total by a first-year baseball coach in UE history.
