 Another comeback appeared to be in the cards for the University of Evansville baseball team on Tuesday night, but the visiting Indiana Hoosiers were able to stifle the Aces’ attempted rallies as UE fell 7-6 in 10 innings at Braun Stadium.
After tying the game up in the bottom of the eighth, UE (8-8) would put the winning run in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Hoosier reliever Jake Kelzer proved able to fight off every threat from the Aces.
“We have to do a better job with runners in scoring position late in the game,†UE head coach Wes Carroll said. “We created opportunities for ourselves tonight, and we just weren’t able to capitalize on it. That’s something that we have to work on heading into tomorrow and then this weekend.â€
Things started off well enough for the Hoosiers (6-8), who cashed in a score in the opening frame off UE starter Alex Weigand. Craig Dedelow reached base when he hit a single off the chest of Weigand before moving over to second on a wild pitch, and Luke Miller followed up in the ensuing at-bat with a single up the middle to plate the opening tally. From there, Weigand would settle down for a bit, holding IU to just four hits over the next five innings.
In the meantime, the UE offense would get rolling, beginning with a Nate Reeder double and Trey Hair single in the third to tie things up. In the fourth, Jonathan Ramon sent a towering home run to center to give UE a 3-1 lead, and a two-out bases-loaded single from Hair brought in two more to send the Aces into the fifth with a 5-1 advantage.
Hair led all hitters on the day, going 4-for-5 with three runs batted in, and Eric McKibban also reached base four times, finishing 3-for-4 with a walk and a pair of scores.
However, things would unravel for the Aces in the seventh as the Hoosiers were able to get to Weigand. The freshman southpaw started off the frame with a couple walks, and it’d go downhill from there as he’d surrender four of five IU runs in the frame before UE reliever Brent Jurceka induced a pair of groundballs and a strikeout to get out of the frame.
Weigand ended the day with a no-decision, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits. Jurceka gave up one run on a pair of hits.
Ramon would once again play a role in the Aces comeback in the eighth as he followed up a McKibban lead-off single with a triple to center, but UE was unable to bring him home to surge back ahead.
Ramon, a senior out of Jackson Heights, N.Y., was 2-for-5 on the day with three RBI.
Miller would lead off the 10th with a double off Ryan Brady, and Scott Bradley brought him home later in the frame to hand the Hoosiers their third lead of the game. This time, the visitors would hold on as Kelzer stranded McKibban at second base in the bottom half to pick up his first win of the season.
Brady fell to 0-1 on the mound.
The Aces will be back in action on Wednesday as they set out for SIUE. First pitch from Simmons Baseball Complex is scheduled for 6 p.m.
NOTES: Eric McKibban is riding a 16-game on-base streak … Jonathan Ramon, who hit just eight home runs in his first three seasons wearing a UE uniform, has left the park four times in the first 16 games of the season … Overall, UE has homered 14 times this year … Tuesday was the first home loss of the season for the Aces … Since 1978, the Aces are 16-18 against Indiana and 274-205 vs. schools that hail from the state of Indiana … UE is 16-6 against SIUE … Against Illinois schools, UE owns a 220-196 record, including a 3-0 mark this year after the NIU sweep.
