The University of Evansville baseball team got a dominating performance from junior starting pitcher Adam Lukas and some early opportunistic offense, however Little Rock got the last laugh in rallying to a game one 7-5 victory in Little Rock, Arkansas, Sunday afternoon.
The Aces grabbed the early lead, as senior outfielder Nate Reeder reached on a one-out hit-by-pitch, then moved into scoring position on an error, then scored on freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom’s RBI single for the icebreaker.
Lukas would struggle in the bottom of the opening frame, walking in a run, knotting the game at one.
However, in the top of the second, the Evansville bats ignited. After Troy Beilsmith got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, freshman designated hitter A.J. Fritz sent a single to second, however an error allows Fritz to make it to second, allowing Beilsmith to tally the go-ahead run. A single by sophomore first baseman Tanner Craig would load up the bases, then a Kenton Crews sacrifice fly would bring in Fritz to make it 3-1 Aces. Senior third baseman Sam Troyer would follow that up by hustling out an infield single, scoring DannyBorgstrom, pushing the UE lead to 4-1. Junior shortstop Craig Shepherd would cap the rally with an RBI single to center, driving in Craig, giving Evansville a 5-1 advantage.
Lukas would recover from his shaky start, tossing four shutout innings, striking out seven in the process. The junior right-hander was one pitch away from getting out of sixth, when Troy Alexander tagged Lukas for a solo shot to right, ending his day, after tossing 120 pitches. Weigand (1-1) would get out of the frame without any more damage. However, in the seventh, the Trojans would whittle into the lead with another tally.
Little Rock would go onto load up the bases on Weigand with no one out in the bottom of the eighth, which would bring junior right-hander Jake McMahill in relief. Chase Coker would greet McMahill with a grand slam home run, giving the Trojans a lead they would not relinquish.
The loss dropped the Aces to 1-4 on the season, while the win gives Little Rock (1-4) their first of the season.
