Conference Play Opens For Aces With Series At SIU

CARBONDALE, Ill. – After three non-conference weekends, the University of Evansville baseball team will open Missouri Valley Conference play against 25th-ranked Southern Illinois with a four-game series beginning at 1 PM on Friday afternoon in Carbondale, Ill.

Last Time Out: Evansville 11, Western Illinois 10 (10 inn.)

• EVANSVILLE – Quickly becoming a theme for the Aces, the University of Evansville baseball team battled back to walk-off with an 11-10 win in 10 innings over Western Illinois in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
• The win helped secure the second series win of the season for the Aces and moved UE back to .500 at 6-6 on the year.
• “I’m so proud of our club and our team. In year’s past, our last nine outs of the game, we would’ve just walked through and accepted a split with Western Illinois,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “I was really proud of our club stepping-up from an offensive standpoint and showing a lot of fight.”
• The Leathernecks got off to a quick start as three of the first batters in the top of the first inning reached base, but Western Illinois was limited to just one run in the inning. In the second frame, WIU added two more runs to open up a 3-0 lead on the Aces.
• Evansville answered in the bottom of the second as the scoring got started for the Aces when senior Craig Shepherd scored in the midst of a double play.
• The Aces trimmed their deficit further in the third with freshman Mark Shallenberger scoring on a groundout by junior Mason Brinkley to make it a 3-2 WIU lead.
• The fifth inning appeared to be the finishing touches from Western Illinois as the Leathernecks pushed across five runs to increase their lead to 8-2.
• What has been true for the Aces all season is that no lead is safe with Evansville’s offense. After watching WIU put a five spot up in the top half of the inning, the Aces put up their own five spot in the bottom half.
• Senior Kenton Crews got the scoring started with a base hit through the left side that sent Brinkley and freshman Simon Scherry home.
• Redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith added a pair of runs for Evansville later in the half inning with a single to left that scored Crews and senior Ben Komonosky.
• The final run of the inning came off the bat of Shallenberger, who roped a single through the left side, pushing Beilsmith home to cut the Western Illinois lead to just one at 8-7.
• After some early pitching struggles by the Aces staff, sophomore Michael Parks came in and steadied the team.
• After a wild fifth inning, Parks struck-out the side in the sixth and came back in the seventh to sit the Leathernecks down in order.
• “Michael Parks gave us a chance,” said Carroll on the reliever. “He came in there and really threw up some goose eggs when we needed it and gave our offense a chance to scrap by and get some important quality at-bats.”
• In the eighth inning, the Leathernecks looked to have done it again, pushing the game out of reach with two runs, increasing their lead to 10-7. Down to their final few outs, Evansville delivered the runs it needed.
• Sophomore Danny Borgstrom opened the inning with a triple and scored the inning’s opening run on a wild pitch. After Beilsmith walked and Shallenberger was hit by a pitch, it was again Scherry who stepped up.
• The freshman ripped a basehit to right center scoring both Borgstrom and Shallenberger, tying the game at 10 and sending the contest into extra innings.
• Freshman pitcher Jakob Meyer escaped a difficult situation in the 10th with the international tiebreaker placing a Leatherneck runner at second to start the inning.
• A sacrifice bunt moved to go-ahead run to third with just one out, but Meyer slammed the door with back-to-back swinging strikeouts.
• With senior Craig Shepherd opening the inning at second, Evansville got to work quickly. Junior Mason Brinkley led off the inning with a walk before Komonosky struck out.
• Junior Evan Kahre followed-up with another walk, loading the base with just one out. Looking to follow up his walk-off win 24 hours prior, Borgstrom did just that. The Morris, Ill. native popped a fly ball into left field and as the Leatherneck left fielder and center fielder each tracked the ball a miscommunication led to the ball falling safely to the turf. Shepherd, prepared to take off, sprinted home, reaching safely and earning the 11-10 extra-innings win for the Aces.
• “Danny Borgstrom’s been on fire all weekend and locked-in at the plate,” remarked Carroll on the sophomore’s weekend at the dish.
• The walk-off win was Evansville’s second in as many days and the third of the season for the Aces.

Previewing the Matchup: No. 25 SIU

• Evansville and Southern Illinois are meeting 174th time when the two sides meet on Friday with the Salukis owning a 109-64 advantage in the all-time series.
• The Salukis swept a three-game series from the Aces the last time the two programs met on May 3 and 4, 2019.
• SIU enters the weekend on a 16-game win streak, including amassing an 11-0 record this season.
• Evansville has won back-to-back series entering this weekend for the first time since taking two games each from Bradley and DBU during March 2019.

Infield Duo on Hit Streaks

• The duo of Simon Scherry and Tanner Craig have been stellar for the Aces both offensively and defensively.
• Offensively, both Scherry and Craig enter Sunday with team-high eight-game hitting streak.
• On the defensive side, the two are each fielding over .975 on the season with a combined 102 putouts.

Evansville in MVC Openers

• Evansville has had recent success in its MVC opening series.
• Since 2014, the Aces are 3-3 in MVC opening series, including a three-game series sweep of Bradley during the 2019 season, the last season in which MVC play was started.

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