Game One: Indiana 6, Evansville 5
Much like Friday night, the runs came early, but they only were marked on the home half of the scoreboard. The Hoosiers struck for four in the opening inning, magnified by a pair of Evansville errors. Following the opening inning, Aces starter Shane Gray settled in, firing five-straight strikeouts split between the third and fourth innings, holding Indiana to just a 4-0 lead.
Evansville’s offense created opportunities, but did so without a hit. After Indiana added two more runs in the fourth, Evansville would mount a comeback, beginning with its first hit of the contest in the sixth with a double down the left field line that broke the seal for later innings.
In the eighth, the Aces began their comeback, scoring five in the penultimate inning. It began with a two-run homer by Tanner Craig that ricocheted off the scoreboard for his 39th career blast. Three batters later and with two more runners on base, Evan Berkey smashed the second home run of the inning, slicing on down the right-field line that got out and pushed the Aces within one at 6-5 heading into the ninth.
The Aces brought their three, four, and five batters to the plate in the ninth, but Indiana reliever Grant Holderfield ended Evansville’s threat to secure the 6-5 win for the Hoosiers.
Game Two: Indiana 6, Evansville 5
Evansville’s offense got going much sooner in the second game of the doubleheader as the Aces scored their first run of the game on aa fielder’s choice in the top of the first. Indiana quickly answered, scoring a run on a groundout to tie the game at one.
An RBI base hit from Shallenberger gave the Aces the lead back in the top of the second as the junior scored Hord. The lead was owned by the Aces until the bottom of the third when the Hoosiers tallied an RBI single of their own to re-tie the game.
A key moment in the contest occurred in the fifth as Evansville looked poised to limit Indiana to just one run, but an error allowed two runs to score, handing the Hoosiers a 5-2 lead.
As has been true of the Aces all season, Evansville mounted a comeback, beginning with a solo home run from Shallenberger in the sixth and followed by an RBI single from Simon Scherry in the seventh to get within a run. Later in the seventh, a wild pitch tied the game as Ty Rumsey came home.
In the next half inning, Indiana retook the lead, doing so for good with an RBI base hit of their own by Glasser. The key to the night was Evansville’s inability to score runners on base as the Aces stranded 16 runners in game two of the doubleheader, falling to Indiana by a 6-5 score.
The Aces will return home for the first time in nearly a month, beginning an eight-game homestand on Tuesday when Evansville hosts Austin Peay at German American Bank Field at 6 PM.
