Evansville sees early lead fade away in tough battle
Earning an early lead, the University of Evansville baseball team fell on the road at Kentucky, 8-5, on a late Wildcats rally in a non-conference matchup on Wednesday evening at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Ky.
“We just didn’t do enough in all aspects of the game to take advantage of the opportunities UK gave us to win the game,” said Evansville head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “There were some bright spots with Nick Smith and Drew Dominik on the mound. Also at the plate I really liked some at bats from Borgstrom, Shallenberger and Scherry. I look forward to playing more consistent complimentary baseball this weekend.”
It took no time for the Aces offense to get rolling as sophomore Danny Borgstrom lifted the second pitch of the game over the right field wall to give Evansville an early run. Later in the top of the first inning, the Aces added another run on a RBI single to left by junior Tanner Craig that scored Beilsmith.
Kentucky got a run back in the bottom half of the first as a base-hit moved runners along, scoring one and cutting the Aces lead to one.
Evansville would tack that run back on in the third as senior Craig Shepherd grounded-out, scoring Tanner Craig as the Aces lead moved to 3-1. A tricky top of the fourth inning caused some damage for the Aces as the Wildcats scored two runs to tie the game, one coming on a walk and the other on a sacrifice fly. The Wildcats still threatened in the fourth after the two runs were scored, but junior Drew Dominik helped limit UK to just two runs.
The fifth inning saw Kentucky takes its first lead of the game at 4-3 on a single to center field.
Evansville had an answer in the top of the seventh as the Aces loaded the bases and Craig drew a walk to tie the game again, this time at 5 all. In the next at bat, freshman Mark Shallenberger popped a sacrifice fly to center that scored Borgstrom and regained the lead for the Aces, 6-5.
The Aces found themselves in some trouble in the seventh as a two-run double to center field regained the lead for the Wildcats at 6-5 and with more damage still being threatened. Before the conclusion of the seventh, Kentucky added another run, this time via a sacrifice fly.
The final run of the night for Kentucky came in the eighth as a runner scored from third on a balk as Kentucky went on to capture the 8-5 win.
Evansville returns to German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium for a four-game set this weekend with Western Illinois, beginning on Friday at 6 PM.
