Evansville restarts Valley play at Bradley

EVANSVILLE – Bringing a seven-game win streak into the weekend, the University of Evansville baseball team travels to Peoria, Ill. to take on Bradley in a Missouri Valley Conference series beginning on Friday at Dozer Park.

Evansville at Bradley | April 9, 10, & 11
Date | Time	Fri., April 9 | 6 PM Sat., April 10 (DH) | 1 & 4 PM Sun. April 11 | 1 PM
Location	Peoria, Ill.
Site	Dozer Park
April 9, 10, & 11	Evansville at Bradley
Follow Along	Live Stats | ESPN3 (Game One) | ESPN3 (Game Two) | ESPN3 (Game Three) | ESPN3 (Game Four)
Evansville	Baseball Site | Twitter | Schedule Poster | Game Notes

Last Time Out: Evansville 14, SDSU 8

• Continuing its offensive extravaganza, the University of Evansville baseball team captured a 14-8 win over South Dakota State in Sunday’s series finale, earning the Aces a weekend sweep, at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
• The win extends Evansville’s winning streak to seven games, its longest such streak since capturing eight-straight wins from March 24 to April 6, 2019.
• “Great weekend for our club. Our offense was led by (Kenton) Crews and (Troy) Beilsmith all weekend,” said Evansville head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “(Danny) Borgstrom had a great game and it was refreshing to see his approach at the plate. (Eric) Roberts finally connected for a long ball, as well. Big week of practice for us and we get ready to get back into Valley play.”
• Evansville jumped-out to a massive lead early in the contest, doing significant damage in the second inning. With Craig Shepherd on first and one out, the Aces got started generating runs.
• Sophomore Danny Borgstrom moved Shepherd over with a base-hit to right center to begin what would be an impressive day at the plate. Freshman Brent Widder drove home the first run of the game with a ground-rule double to right center, scoring Shepherd.
• Fellow freshman Max Malley nearly cleared the bases in the next at-bat, just missing a home run as the ball bounced off the wall, scoring Brogstrom.
• Off to an incredible start in his fifth season, redshirt junior Kenton Crews ripped a double to left field, bringing Widder home and pushing Evansville’s lead to 3-0, still with just one out.
• Redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith reached safely on a fielder’s choice as Malley scored on a throwing error by the Jacks third baseman.
• After Beilsmith stole second, freshman Simon Scherry drew a walk to fill the bases. With the bases loaded, freshman Mark Shallenberger was hit by a pitch, scoring another run, as the bases remained full.  Junior Eric Roberts responded to the opportunity, smashing a grand slam over the right field wall and handing Evansville a 9-0 lead after the second inning.
• South Dakota State showed resilience, scoring five runs in the top of the third to trim Evansville’s lead to four at 9-5. After the third, Aces starter Donovan Schultz’s day came to an end, being replaced by junior reliever Zac Cummins.
• In the fourth, Borgstrom added an RBI to his game line, driving in Shallenberger to push the Aces lead back to five. Rotating to the top of the fifth, Cummins continued to pitch effectively for the Aces as the newcomer finished his outing, lasting two innings, while not allowing a hit and striking-out one.
• The day continued to go well for Borgstrom in the sixth as the second baseman drove a two-run home run to right, scoring Roberts and elevating Evansville’s lead back to seven at 12-5.
• A wild pitch from the Jacks in the seventh put Evansville in position to again earn a run-rule win as the bases were loaded with just one out and with the Aces owning a 13-5 lead. Following the run on the wild pitch, SDSU recorded back-to-back outs to end the inning and extend the game.
• SDSU would not go away in the series finale as the Jacks responded with two runs in the eighth to cut Evansville’s lead to 13-7.
• Borgstrom closed his account on the day in a fitting way, launching another home run, this time with a shot to center field. The Jacks scored a run in the top of the ninth, but closer Jakob Meyer locked-down the 14-8 win for Evansville.

Previewing the Matchup: Bradley

• The Aces and Braves series hits a milestone on Friday night as both sides are meeting for the 100th time in the series history.
• Evansville owns a 56-43 advantage in the all-times series.
• The last time UE and Bradley met, Evansville earned a three-game sweep of the Braves during the 2019 campaign, capped-off by a 6-4 win in the weekend finale.
• Bradley enters the weekend with a 7-13 record and coming off a weekend split with Missouri State.
• Evansville holds a seven-game win streak coming into the weekend, its longest since capturing eight-straight wins from March 24-April 6, 2019 that included a three-game sweep of Bradley.
• Evansville has nearly mirrored its first 27 games of the 2019 season when the Aces opened the season 17-10.

Offense Growing

• Evansville has seen its offense come alive over the last week in series against Xavier and SDSU.
• Over the last five games, Evansville has scored nine-or-more runs in four games, averaging 10 runs per game during that stretch.
• Twice during the last five games has Evansville exceeded 13 runs, including a season-high 14 runs on Sunday over the Jacks.

It’s Pronounced Bye-lsmith

• Saturday was a special day for redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith at the plate.
• The Weldon Spring, Mo. native opened the day with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Aces a 3-2 win over SDSU.
• In the second game, Beilsmith again found himself at the plate with an opportunity to end the game and he did just that. Beilsmith smashed a three-run homer to left field, walking-off with a 11-1 run-rule win for the Aces.