Baseball Swept by Evansville

Saturday, April 10

Carbondale, Ill.

12:00 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

8-18-1, 4-5-1

Evansville

15-15, 3-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Evansville	1	1	0	0	5	0	0	7	5	4
Southern Illinois	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	5	11	5

04/10/2004 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

April 10, 2004

Box Score

By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Mitch Prout and Ryan Lancaster each threw solid complete games to lead Evansville (16-15, 4-7) to a sweep of Southern Illinois (8-19-1, 4-6-1) earlier today in a doubleheader at Abe Martin Field. The Purple Aces capitalized on five Saluki errors to post a 7-5 win in game one, before taking the nightcap, 7-3.

With the two losses, SIU dropped 11 games below .500.

The Dawgs out-hit the Aces, 11-5 in game one, but self-destructed defensively in the fifth.

Tied 2-2 after four innings, SIU committed three errors to go along with two wild pitches and two hit batsmen from starting right-hander Marshall Tucker in the top of the fifth. The circus inning led to five unearned runs for UE.

Jeff Fontaine reached on an error by first baseman Tyler Schooley and advanced to second when Gabe Bauer was hit by a pitch. Robbie Minor followed with a fielder's choice, but an error by third baseman Nathan Boldt enabled Fontaine to score. Another error by Schooley then allowed Bauer to score easily. An ensuing Kyle Smith grounder to short would plate Minor, before Eric Jones touched home on a wild pitch and a Pat Tumilty sacrifice fly drove in Erik Lis.

Trailing 7-2 after its sloppy fifth inning, SIU answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, where Cory Newman hit a RBI-single to center and P.J. Finigan ripped a two-RBI double down the left field line to narrow UE's lead to 7-5.

Prout, however, would get Boldt and Matt Brewer to each fly out to right to start the seventh. Despite giving up a single to Nick Baughman and a walk to Erik Alvarez, Prout kept his poise and calmly forced Newman to ground out to short to get out of the jam.

Prout moved to 2-4 on the year after being touched for just three earned runs in seven innings. He also struck out three, allowed 11 hits and issued three walks.

Tucker dropped to 1-6. He, too, went the distance, where he allowed five hits and tied a career-high six strikeouts. Tucker also threw a total of four wild pitches and hit two batters.

In the nightcap, it was Lancaster who stymied the Salukis. Lancaster, who initially wasn't scheduled to start on the mound, struck out five batters, issued one walk, gave up three earned runs and was touched for nine hits in his nine-inning gem.

Although Lancaster was having success on the mound, UE fell behind, 3-2, before it's offense came alive to manufacture at least one run in each of the last three innings of the game.

Shortly after a two-RBI double by Boldt and a sacrifice fly by Brewer gave the Dawgs a one-run edge in the sixth, the Aces countered with three runs of their own in the top of the seventh.

Kyle Smith hit a RBI-double, while Cody Strait and Tumilty each had run-scoring singles to give UE a 5-3 lead.

Three more wild pitches by Saluki hurlers and an error by catcher Brendan Lutz, helped UE plate two more runs (one in the eighth, one in the ninth) in the last two innings to put SIU away for good.

Lancaster upped his record to 4-2, while Josh Joiner took the loss for SIU. In just his second start on the hill this season, Joiner went 6.2 innings, where he struck out three batters, allowed five runs and issued three walks.

Offensively, Baughman and Boldt led the Dawgs. On the day, Baughman went 4-for-7 with two runs scored, while Boldt went 4-for-8 with one run, two doubles and two RBI. Newman and Nathan Emrick followed with three hits apiece.

Meanwhile, Saluki pitchers threw seven wild pitches in the two games. As for its defense, SIU committed a total of six errors in the twin bill.

SIU and UE wrap up their four-game series at 1 p.m., on Easter Sunday.