The University of Southern Indiana baseball team bounced back in the nightcap to earn a doubleheader split with Lewis University Sunday afternoon at the USI Baseball Field. The Screaming Eagles lost the opener, 9-8, in eight innings, before salvaging the nightcap, 6-1.
USI saw its record go to 25-16 overall and 13-7 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Lewis finished the day 22-17 overall, 11-9 GLVC.
Eagles’ freshman right-hander Austin Krizan (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) was dominating in nightcap to lead USI to the 6-1 win. Krizan (4-0) won his fourth game and posted his third complete game of the year, allowing one run on seven hits and one walk in seven innings of work. He also struck out three batters.
The Eagles provided Krizan all of the offense he would need in the first two innings of nightcap with USI pushing across five runs in the first and one tally in the second inning to build a 6-0 lead. Krizan surrendered his only run of the day in the sixth before shutting the door on the 6-1 win .
Senior first baseman Andrew Cope (Evansville, Indiana) led the Eagles at the plate with a pair of hits, including a two-single in the first inning rally. Sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana) also had a pair of hits with a run scored and one RBI.
USI could not hold onto a 6-3 lead after five innings and lost game one 9-8 in the eighth inning of the seven-inning game one. USI, which spotted Lewis a 3-0 lead in the opening frame, scored two in the first, third, and fifth to take a 6-3 lead before Lewis rallied with four runs in the sixth to take back the lead, 7-6.
Battling back with a pair of runs in the bottom of sixth, the Eagles briefly regained the lead, 8-7, only to see the Flyers tie the game in the top of the seventh, 8-8, to send the game into an extra frame. Lewis scored the game winner in the top of the eighth for the 9-8 victory off of USI senior right-handers Alex Holder (Princeton, Indiana) and T.J. Decker (Brazil, Indiana).
Holder (3-5) picked up the loss after walking the eventual game-winning run to lead off the eighth. Decker finished the eighth allowing one hit to load the bases and a fielder’s choice that drove in the game-winning run.
Junior right-hander Devin Williams (Evansville, Indiana) started and got the no-decision after allowing seven runs, four earned, on seven hits in 5.2 innings of work. He also struck out five in the first half of the game.
USI sophomore designated hitter Joe Redburn (Newburgh, Indiana) and senior third baseman Trent Gunn (Tell City, Indiana) led the Eagles at the plate in the opener. Redburn had three hits and five RBIs, while Gunn had three hits, three runs scored, and one RBI.
The Eagles continues their 10-game homestand Wednesday at 6 p.m. when they host the University of Missouri-St. Louis for non-conference match-up at the USI Baseball Field. Live coverage of Wednesday’s game can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
USI holds a 49-42 lead over the Tritons all-time after dropping an 8-1 decision April 5 in St. Louis. The Tritons are 24-16 overall after dropping a doubleheader on the road at Truman State University Sunday.
During Wednesday’s USI-UMSL game, Hucks will be giving away a $500 USI Bookstore certificate to a lucky USI student. Students must have a valid USI student ID and be present at the start of the baseball game to be entered in the drawing.
NOTE: USI senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) ends the weekend one hit short of tying the USI career-record for hits. The record of 270 is held by Mike Peerman (1997-2000).
