Coming off a gem by senior pitcher Michael Baird that resulted in a 2-0 victory on Friday, the SIU baseball team turned to senior hurler Jamison Steege on Saturday to lock down a series victory over Evansville (7-29, 1-10 MVC).

Despite a shaky first inning by the Saluki defense, Steege (4-3) tossed six strong innings for Southern and set the table for the Salukis’ comeback victory.

With a three-run rally in the ninth, SIU downed the Purple Aces 5-4, clinching the first two games of the series.

Advertisement

After a single and two flyouts opened the first for Evansville, the Purple Aces pieced together a two-out rally to take an early lead.

With an error and an RBI double from sophomore center fielder Kenton Crews, UE took a 1-0 advantage.

The very next batter, senior catcher Andrew Tanous, drove home two more with an RBI two-bagger of his own that extended the lead to three.

Southern got a run back in the top of the second after two of the first three batters in the inning reach on a single and a walk.

Freshman third baseman Grey Epps drove home one run on a single for his 12th RBI of the season. Epps finished the day 3-4 with one run scored and an RBI.

Evansville pushed the lead back to three in the bottom of the frame as a double and a steal by junior second baseman Sam Troyer put a runner at third with only one out.

Senior third baseman Stewart Nelson immediately drove in Troyer with an RBI groundout for a 4-1 lead.

Advertisement

After SIU scored another run on an error in the third, all scoring ceased until the final inning when the Salukis struck for three runs.

With one out, Southern started a rally that began with two walks and a single that loaded the bases.

Junior second baseman Nikola Vasic stepped to the plate and was drilled with a pitch that brought a run across and cut the deficit to one.

An infield single from junior left fielder Alex Lyon — who went 2-5 with a run and an RBI — knotted the game up at four and set the Salukis up for a prime chance to take the lead in the late going.

Connor Kopach, the Salukis’ senior shortstop, then lifted a fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly, giving Southern a chance to pull off the comeback. Kopach finished the game 2-3.

The Salukis turned to senior closer Ryan Netemeyer in the ninth to try and nail down the victory and earn his eighth save of the campaign.

Despite a one-out single, Netemeyer hurled a clean ninth for the 5-4 win and the series victory.

Freshman reliever Noah Farmer (3-1) picked up the win as he only allowed one hit in two innings of work.

SIU (23-20, 6-5 MVC) will look for the sweep of UE tomorrow in the final game of the series. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. Sophomore Brad Harrison (4-3, 3.53 ERA) will get the start for Southern.

Sports editor Nathan Dodd can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @NathanMDodd.

To stay up to date with all your SIU sports news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

Advertisement