CARBONDALE, Ill.—Seven walks, two errors and a long home run by Southern Illinois designated hitter Tyler Bullock did in the visiting University of Evansville baseball team on Saturday in Carbondale, Illinois, as the Salukis evened the series with an 8-6 victory over the Purple Aces at Abe Martin Field.

 

After Evansville took advantage of an SIU error to score two runs in the top of the first inning on RBI base hits by sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland and junior outfielder Nate Smith, the Salukis answered back with seven unanswered runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 7-2 lead. Five of the runners who scored reached via either a walk or hit batsman, and Bullock capped the outburst with a long three-run home run to right field in the fourth inning.

 

Evansville would strike back for two runs each in the fifth and seventh innings to get back within a run at 7-6, but from there, SIU relievers Lee Weld and Bryant George held the Purple Aces scoreless over the final two frames to preserve the win for starter Randy Hoelscher (4-3). The Salukis also added an unearned run in the seventh inning as insurance.

 

“Southern Illinois just flat beat us today,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “They pitched it better than we did today, they hit better than we did today, and they fielded the baseball better than we did today.

 

“I’m expecting our team to respond tomorrow and come to the park ready to play. We didn’t have the same type of focus today that we did yesterday, but with tomorrow’s game being the rubber match of the series, I’m fully expecting everyone to come to the park tomorrow ready to play. We have a lot of energy in that dugout and we have a lot of high character guys on our team who are ready to battle for another series victory.”

 

Bullock paced Southern Illinois offensively by going 2-for-5 with a home run and three runs driven in. Outfielder Aaron Roberts also went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. Copeland led UE by going 2-for-3 with three runs driven in, while both senior outfielder Alex Acheson and junior outfielder Greg Wallace added two hits each. For Wallace, it helped him crack the 200-hit barrier in his career, as he becomes the 22nd player in UE baseball history to record 200 or more hits as a Purple Ace.

 

With the victory, Southern Illinois evens the series at a game apiece, while improving to 24-26 overall and 7-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 28-23 overall and 8-9 in the Valley with the loss. The two teams will conclude the series on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. in a game that can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.