EVANSVILLE - Despite getting a strong performance on the mound from starter Jake McMahill, Evansville dropped its Saturday meeting with Southern Illinois, 5-0, at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

"Great effort from McMahill on the mound, giving us a chance, but we didn't have an answer for their starter Harrison," said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll "Harrison had great stuff today and there is a reason he is now 8-0 on the season. We need a total team effort tomorrow."

McMahill pitched six innings for the Aces, allowing two earned runs and striking-out four, inducing 11 flyouts on the afternoon, giving Evansville a chance heading into the final three innings. His counterpart in maroon looked similarly impressive as Brad Harrison finished his effort, pitching 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and tallying eight strikeouts.

Evansville's offense struggled to complete the final step and push across runs on the afternoon. The Aces generated a bases loaded opportunity in the third with two outs, but could not score in their first opportunity of the day.

The Aces continued to generate base hits with two outs in the fourth and fifth innings, but each time, the final out of the inning was recorded in the next plate appearance.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Evansville again got its offense going, sparked by a double down the right field line by Danny Borgstrom. After Borgstrom advanced to second and Craig Shepherd earned a walk, the Aces had runners at the corners with two outs. As was the story for the day, UE could not push a run across as Evansville grounded-out to end the inning.

In the seventh, SIU added to its lead, pushing across three runs on five hits to bolster its advantage to five runs.

On in relief for the Aces in the eighth, Tyler Denu looked strong, recording the final two innings of work, pitching a pair of scoreless frames and allowing just three runners on base.

For the Salukis On the mound to close-out the game, Bubba Harris allowed just one hit over his 3.1 innings of work, sitting Evansville down in order in the eighth and ninth to secure the 5-0 win for the Salukis.

With a time change to the final game of the series, Evansville and SIU will close-out their weekend at 11 AM on Sunday at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
 

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