Salukis drop 5-2 series opener to Central Arkansas

Thursday, April 2

Carbondale, Ill.

6:30 PM

Southern Illinois University

5-23

Central Arkansas

15-9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Central Arkansas	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	5	6	2
Southern Illinois	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	7	1

04/02/2015 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

April 2, 2015

Box Score

By Rico Cruz
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - After taking a one-run lead in the fifth inning, Southern Illinois was unable to put Central Arkansas away, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Bears Thursday night.

"For five or six innings, we played extremely well," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "When we got the lead, we started doing all kinds of things to lose it. We were throwing balls around and giving at-bats away. I thought that we played well for the first five innings. Our effort was good in the last four innings, we just did not play well."

Aaron Hauge took the mound for SIU (5-23, 1-5 MVC) and quickly found himself in a jam after walking the first two batters of the game. A single from Travis Hull put UCA (15-9, 8-4 SLC) up, 1-0. The Salukis got out of the inning with a strikeout and a caught stealing.

Southern responded in the second to tie the game at 1-1. After Taylor Martin reached on a fielder's choice, Tyler Rolland hit a single into center field to advance Martin to third base. Parker Osborne tied the game up with a sacrifice fly to center field.

After giving up the run in the opening inning, Hauge was lights out, holding the Bears scoreless for the next four innings.

With Hauge keeping the Bears' bats silent, SIU strung together some hits in the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Osborne hit a deep shot that went over the right field fence for a ground-rule double. A wild pitch allowed Osborne to advance to third, with Dyllin Mucha up to bat. With the go-ahead run at third, Mucha hit a single up the middle, scoring Osborne and giving the Salukis a 2-1 lead.

The lead would not hold for too long, as UCA tied the game in the sixth inning. After Hauge walked the bases loaded, a wild pitch allowed the Bears to tie the game at 2-2.

UCA's Connor Gilmore (4-2) would hold the Salukis in check for the remainder of the game, shutting-out the SIU offense for the last four innings.

The seventh inning saw the Bears take control of the game. After a throwing error let UCA score the go-ahead run to take a 3-2 lead, a double by Chris Townsend gave the visitors a two-run advantage. The Bears would tack on one more run in the ninth to take a 5-2 lead and seal the game.

"We competed and our effort was good all day," said Henderson. "We just made too many mistakes down the stretch against a good ball club."

The Salukis will look to even the series tomorrow when the two teams take the field at Itchy Jones Stadium. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., with Bryce Sablotny taking the mound for SIU.