“It was great to come back home and play well and play good baseball,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “For us to get a sweep against a good quality Butler team that was coming in 6-0 is a great turning point for our club early in the season.”
With the win, Evansville moved to 3-8 on the season, while the Bulldogs dropped to 6-3.
Senior David Ellis captured the win on the mound for Evansville, holding the Bulldogs without a run and recording the last two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
After the lead fell into the hands of the Bulldogs for the first time this weekend in the ninth inning, it was a nearly flawless bottom of the ninth for the Aces that earned the sweep for Evansville.
In the bottom of the ninth, senior Troy Beilsmith took his base to begin the inning after being hit by a pitch. Following three wild pitches in the next at-bat, Beilsmith scored the game-tying run while freshman Brent Widder earned first with a walk. Pinch hitting, sophomore Danny Borgstrom was also walked putting runners on first and second with no outs.
Senior Craig Shepherd dribbled the ball to the shortstop, who threw Borgstrom out at second, but set up runners on the corners for Evansville. After Shepherd took second on a wild pitch, Wilkes came through, ripping a shot through the left side that scored Widder and earned a 4-3 walk-off win for the Aces.
“”(This win) was huge. It was absolutely huge,” said Wilkes. “To bounce back like that, I’m really proud of these guys. We’re going to take it into next week and the weekend, too, and I think we’ve got a good thing going here.”
Evansville is back on the road this week with a midweek contest against UT Martin on Tuesday at 6 PM in Martin, Tenn.
