The SIU baseball team is holding its annual intersquad fall series, which began last week at Abe Martin Field and continues later this week.

The best-of-seven series, which divided the Salukis into a maroon team and a black team, was tied 1-1 heading into the third game.

The maroon team took a 1-0 series lead with a 4-2 victory in the series’ first game Oct. 1 behind the bats of senior Mark Kelly and juniors Tom Cerven and Tyler Bullock.

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Three of the four hits the maroon team collected were extra-base hits as Kelly and Cerven both doubled on 0-2 counts and Bullock highlighted a 2-for-4 day at the plate with a solo home run.

Bullock, who hit six home runs in 128 at bats last season, said he took advantage of a 3-1 fastball and took it over the fence.

“I was simply trying to drive a ball to the gap, but got a little more than I bargained for,” Bullock said.

Senior left-hander Daniel Wells picked up the win, pitching 3.1 innings of relief and limited the black team to two hits during his appearance.

Wells posted a 4-1 record and 3.86 ERA last season and credited the Salukis’ strong defensive efforts for the game one victory.

“All the credit goes to the defense,” Wells said. “I used my slider early to keep them off-balance, while spotting my fastball on both sides of the plate.”

The black team, though, bounced back with a 6-4 come-from-behind victory to even the series at one win apiece Oct. 2.

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Kelly, who started in all 57 games and hit .375 for the Salukis last season, continued to swing the bat well in the series with a two-RBI single, which accounted for half of the maroon team’s scoring offense in the second game.

However, the three-run lead disappeared when the black team stepped to the plate in the fifth inning.

The maroon team walked five batters, threw a wild pitch and committed an error in a disastrous inning that plated five runs, giving the black team a 6-4 lead.

The only hit of the inning was a lead-off single that came off the bat of Bran Bajer.

Ryan Bradley picked up the win for the black team, while David Kington suffered the loss.

The best-of-seven series will continue with games scheduled for early this week.

Luis C. Medina can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269 or [email protected].