EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  The University of Evansville baseball team opened up a five-game homestand in grand fashion on Tuesday night, as the Purple Aces pounded out a 9-3 victory over the visiting Lipscomb Bisons at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
“Tonight was a great overall team win,†said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “John MacCauley was outstanding on the mound to set the tone for the night, and our offense put up multiple runs in three-straight innings.
“Now, we are on to the weekend with Indiana State coming into town.  Should be a big weekend at the ballpark.â€
MacCauley, a graduate transfer from Butler who was making his first start in an Evansville uniform, struck out the side in the first inning to set the tone for the evening.  After Evansville scored a run in the bottom of the first inning on a walk, an infield single, and an RBI ground out, MacCauley retired seven of the next eight batters to keep Evansville in the lead, 1-0.  After a one-out double, MacCauley (1-1) struck out Lipscomb designated hitter David Coppedge to end his night on pitch count, but he earned the victory scattering two hits in 3.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Evansville would score two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, before exploding for four runs in the seventh inning.  Graduate outfielder Eric Roberts led off UE’s four-run seventh inning with a solo home run to right field for his 15th home run of the year.  Junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse then continued his hot hitting two batters later with a two-run double to deep center field to push UE’s lead to 8-3.  Sophomore catcher Evan Waggoner then drove in Fougerousse with an RBI single to center field to cap UE’s scoring.
Fougerousse, Waggoner, and junior shortstop Simon Scherry all had two hits to lead UE’s offensive attack, with Fougerousse adding two runs and three RBI.
With the victory, Evansville improves to 24-16 overall.  Lipscomb, meanwhile, falls to 21-20 with the loss.  Evansville will continue its homestand this weekend by hosting #14 Indiana State in a three-game series beginning on Friday night at 6 p.m.  All three games of the series can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.
