On a day that saw eight members of the University of Evansville baseball team play their final games at Braun Stadium, the Purple Aces came out slugging, but couldn’t avoid a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Illinois State, falling 14-11 in the first game and 11-7 in game two of the twin bill, Saturday afternoon.
“The seniors left it all out there one the field today”, said Purple Aces Head Coach Wes Carroll. “I really liked the effort, the execution just wasn’t there. We just didn’t do enough to win a game on Senior Day. But just a great overall effort by some of our seniors. It was great to see them make some lasting memories here at Braun Stadium.”
Game one saw the Aces jump out to a quick lead, as freshman designated hitter Evan Aders continue his May assault on opposing pitching, launching a 3-run home run over the fence in left in the second inning. His fourth roundtripper of the season gave UE a 4-0 advantage.
However, junior starting pitcher Alex Weigand got in trouble in the top of the third frame, giving up four runs, including a 3-run homer by Collin Braithwaite, knotting the game up at four apiece. The Redbirds would strike for three more in the fourth to take the lead, 7-4.
The Aces would respond in the bottom of the inning, beginning with Evan Aders hitting his second home run of the game and fifth roundtripper of the season, a 2-run laser to left. Sophomore center fielder Kenton Crews followed that up with an RBI single, then sophomore left fielder Troy Beilsmith reached on an error allowing another run to tally, and finally senior right fielder Dalton Horstmeier grooved a 2-run double to right-center. The resulting six-run frame put Evansville back out in front 10-7.
However, Illinois State responded with a six-run frame in the fifth, and went onto to take a 14-11 slugfest.
In game two, Evansville fell behind early, as Collin Braithwaite tagged Aces freshman starting Jace Burke for a 3-run home run in the top of the first. Then in the third, Jordan Libman would send a Burke pitch to center, singling one run. Joe Aelits followed that up with an RBI double down the left field line, making it 4-0 Redbirds, and chasing Burke from the game. He would be replaced by senior right hand reliever Jimmy Ward.
However, Ward’s luck was no better, as John Rave lifted a 2-run double to left off him in the fifth inning, making it 6-0 Illinois State. He would give was to senior right hander Nick Eggemeyer, who came in and tossed a shutout sixth frame.
Evansville would rally in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by a 3-run home run off the bat of Dalton Horstmeier. Horstmeier’s fourth roundtripper of the season put the Purple Aces right back in the game, trailing 6-4.
However, Illinois State would strike for two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth, taking an 11-5 lead into the ninth.
Evansville battled to their final out, with Stewart Nelson, in his final at-bat at Braun Stadium, drilling a 2-run home run, his first of the year, getting the Aces back within four. But that’s as close as they would get, as Illinois State hung on for an 11-7 victory.
The Purple Aces finish up the regular season at 12-37 and 3-18 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Illinois State winds up at 22-28 and 9-12 in the MVC.
Now it’s onto the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, hosted by Dallas Baptist. Evansville will open the tournament as the eighth seed and will face regular season champion league champion Missouri State on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. Central Time.
“It was just good offensively to create some momentum going into the conference tournament”, said Carroll. “I feel like our line up has some balance right now, and some guys are starting to produce and playing with a lot of confidence. Hopefully that and our defense can help out our pitching.”
