“Really proud of this club showing a lot of fight throughout the entire day,” remarked Evansville head baseball coach Wes Carroll on the Aces Sunday win. “Tough to win on the road in the Valley and having the type of 10th inning shows a lot about this team.”
Coming-on as a pinch hitter in the 10th, junior Robbie Wilkes delivered what would be the game-winning double with the bases loaded, driving in three runs and lifting the Aces lead to 11-7. Valpo would score two runs in the bottom half of the 10th and threaten for more, but Drew Dominik slammed the store to secure the 11-9 win for Evansville.
Mark Shallenberger posted strong numbers to power Evansville in the series finale. The St. Louis native belted his fifth home run of the season in the first, a three-run shot to right, before adding another RBI on a sacrifice fly in the third. Shallenberger finished the day 1-for-2 at the plate with four RBI, three runs scored, and a pair of walks.
Following a five-hit performance in Saturday’s doubleheader, Simon Scherry got the offense started with a triple to lead-off the game. During Brent Widder’s at-bat, Scherry scored on a passed ball as the Aces tallied four runs in the first and two more runs in the third to grab a 6-0 advantage.
Valpo clawed back, scoring four runs in the fifth, narrowing Evansville’s lead to just two at 6-4. The Aces added a run in the sixth as Shallenberger scored following a Valpo error.
Leading 7-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Evansville ran into trouble as the home side loaded the bases with no outs. Jakob Meyer would work his way out of the inning, With the bases still loaded and one out and the game tied at seven, Meyer got a strikeout and groundout to end the inning and send the game to extras.
Junior Caleb Reinhardt got the start on the mound for Evansville, pitching 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. Evansville’s relievers came in and held Valpo scoreless across 3.1 innings up until the ninth as Eric Roberts, Michael Parks, and Shane Harris combined to allow just two hits, while striking-out three.
Evansville heads into the final weekend of the regular season having won four of its last five games and will face Indiana State in a four-game set, beginning on Thursday at 6 PM at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
