The Salukis traveled to Indiana Tuesday in search of their ninth straight win, but fell short and had their first loss since April 12.

SIU played one game against Evansville University where the Aces had the bats going and downed the Dawgs 4-2 to avoid the season sweep.

Evansville struck first when pitcher, junior Megan Gurski, hit a solo homerun to help her own cause and take a 1-0 lead into the second inning.

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The Salukis struck twice in their next set of at-bats.

Gurski walked the bases loaded in the top of the second inning, then tossed a wild pitch to allow junior Kara Kimball to score from third base. During the same at-bat, junior Kalyn Harker hit a sacrifice grounder to third to allow freshman Merri Anne Patterson to score and give SIU its first and only lead of the game.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, SIU junior pitcher Katie Bertelsen walked her counterpart, Gurski, and on the next at-bat allowed a homerun for the second time to surrender the lead to Evansville.

The Purple Aces managed to score once more in the bottom of the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly to secure the win 4-2 and snap the Salukis’ eight-game winning streak.

Tony McDaniel can be reached at [email protected] or 536-3311 ext. 282.