Southern Illinois University
Evansville
SIU Falls to Evansville in Series Opener, 8-6
04/27/2001 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
April 27, 2001
Evansville, Ind.--Evansville scored three runs in the seventh inning with two outs to snap a 5-5 tie and beat Southern Illinois University Carbondale (16-28, 9-16 MVC) 8-6 in the series opener on Friday, April 27 in Evansville, Indiana at Carson Center Field.
"I'm disappointed. We faced another team's number one pitcher and we get him on the ropes and then we don't do a good job of pitching around mistakes. We make a mistake with an error to open the game and they get three unearned runs to take the lead. We had eight innings to battle back from that start and when we tied the game, we let the lead go," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach.
SIU banged out 12 hits and six runs in six innings against Preston Larrison (7-2), the top pitcher in the MVC, but couldn't get the key out on the mound allowing seven runs with two outs in the game.
"I thought offensively we did a very good job. On the mound we beat ourselves. We hit two batters with two outs and the following batter (Wes Carroll) hits a two run home run the first time and gets an 0-2 basehit and drives in another run," added Callahan.
"That's tough to swallow but you have to give them credit. If you score eight runs you have a good chance to win especially with Larrison on the mound and scoring seven runs with two outs is a pretty good job of not quitting."
SIU battled back from the 3-0 first inning deficit with two runs in the third inning. Roman Schooley singled to drive in Ryan Murray and Dane Kerley stole home as part of a double steal to cut the lead to 3-2.
After Evansville score two runs in the fifth to go up 5-2, the Salukis scored three runs to tie the game at 5-5 in the sixth. Jeff Stanek singled to open the inning and Luke Nelson followed with a double. Sal Frisella doubled down the leftfield line to drive in Stanek and Nelson and Cory Newman singled with two outs to drive in Frisella to tie the game.
But the Aces scored three more runs with two outs on a double, a hit batsmen and three straight singles to take an 8-5 lead. The Salukis added another run against Larrison on a Cory Newman double driving in Nelson in the eighth, but that was as close as SIU came to Evansville.
SIU's 12-hit attack was led by Schooley (3-for-5, RBI), Newman (2-for-4, double, two-RBIs), Frisella (2-for-4, two-RBIs, run) and Nelson (2-for-4, two runs).
Josh Latimer (2-6) allowed eight runs (five earned), nine hits, one walk and struck out five in the loss.
The Salukis continue the series with Evansville on Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader and the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
