It was a tale of two games at Charles H. Braun Stadium Tuesday night, as the University of Evansville baseball team fell to Murray State in a midweek non-conference match-up, one that the Aces would lose 6-4.
Evansville senior left-hander Alex Weigand took the hill and came out on fire, striking out a pair in the opening frame. The southpaw would go onto strike out six across three innings of work.
The Aces got the jump on the Racers on the offensive side early as well. Senior left fielder Matthew Jones laced an RBI single to left in the first inning, driving in junior shortstop Craig Shepherd, giving Evansville a 1-0 lead.
UE would build on that lead in the second inning, as a Craig Shepherd sacrifice fly to right drove in freshman second baseman DannyBorgstrom from third, doubling the Aces lead to 2-0.
In the fourth, Evansville would add to its pad, as three walks loaded up the bases with one out for Craig Shepherd, who again came through with a sacrifice fly, this time scoring freshman designated hitter A.J. Fritz from third, and the Aces lead grew to 3-0.
Freshman right-hand reliever Sam Steimel would come in relief of Weigand and pitch a pair of perfect innings. However, after getting two outs in the sixth, Murray State put a pair aboard, and Steimel gave way to fellow newcomer Garrett Presko, who would get greeted to the game with a 2-run triple by Brock Anderson, cutting the Aces lead to 3-2. Presko would allow two runners on in the seventh, and was replaced by freshman righty Shane Gray, who gave up a single to left, knotting the game up at 3.
Gray would give way to freshman left-hander Michael Parks (2-2) in the eighth, who was tagged for three runs, before being lifted for senior righty Austin Allinger, who would put out the fire. Still, the Aces trailed 6-3.
Evansville would get one back in the bottom of the frame, as a wild pitch allowed Matthew Jones to race home, cutting the deficit to two. However, Aces would draw no closer.
The loss dropped Evansville to 21-23 on the season, while Murray State improved to 20-25.
