“We’ve been looking for a game like this just offensively to be able to pound out 15 hits and for some guys to come alive,” said Evansville head baseball coach Wes Carroll on the offensive resurgence for the Aces in the win. “It was just awesome to see Brent Widder really barrel up two baseballs with two big-time doubles and two RBI. But the player of the game for me is Tanner Craig, just being able to finally go up top. Now the pressure’s finally kind of off. We beat a good team tonight and it was just good that we got the extra hit in an inning to put up crooked numbers. Anytime you get a shutout you’re going to be excited. With Shane Gray on the mound, we know he’s going to compete at a high level and he had to work around a lot of walks.”
On the mound for the Aces, sophomore Shane Gray strung together a pair of impressive innings to get the contest started, walking one. Evansville opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning as freshman Brent Widder doubled to left, scoring fellow freshman Mark Shallenberger and giving the Aces a 1-0 lead. Junior Tanner Craig doubled the Aces advantage in the third, doubling to left field and scoring redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith.
Gray’s spectacular day on the mound continued in the fourth inning as Gray continued to hold the Leathernecks without a hit. In the top of the fifth, Western Illinois tallied its first hit of the game and eventually loaded the bases, all with two outs. Gray got the Aces out of the inning, inducing a groundout to close the fifth.
A walk and back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the fifth put Evansville in excellent position to add to its lead. A pair of sacrifice flies by Shallenberger and freshman Simon Scherry in quick succession helped the Aces increase their lead to four heading into the sixth inning.
“I thought the key to the game was, if you look at that fifth inning, bases loaded, him being able to put the goose egg up and then us in the top of our lineup, having six-straight quality at bats and stringing across two runs to extend the game up to four, that’s where I felt the game was won.”
Gray’s day came to a close following the top of the sixth where Gray added a strikeout to his totals.
Two more runs in the seventh pushed the Aces lead to six and Evansville broke the game wide open in the eighth. Senior Kenton Crews opened the inning with a bunt single, beating out the throw. Widder followed, recording his second double of the game and scoring Crews, followed by fellow freshman Max Malley earning a walk.
Sophomore Danny Borgstrom then delivered a double, scoring Widder and Malley to push the Aces lead to 9-0. With a run rule set at 10, Craig came to the plate and ended the game with a two-run blast to left field that earned the Aces an 11-0 win.
Evansville and Western Illinois continue their series with a pair of seven inning games beginning at Noon on Saturday at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
