After falling into an early three-run hole, the University of Evansville baseball team dug themselves out, taking the lead on the Missouri Valley Conference’s top team, Missouri State, at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo. only to fall late, 6-5.
Aggressive base running by the Purple Aces set up the first tally of the game, as junior infielder Sam Troyer turned a lead-off single into the icebreaker on a wild pitch from MVC preseason pitcher of the year Dylan Coleman.
However, the Bears would answer right back on Evansville junior starting pitcher Alex Weigand, as Drew Milas drove in Hunter Steinmetz on a fielder’s choice, knotting the game at 1.
That’s the way it would stay until the third frame, when Missouri State put two on for John Pivitera, who sent a bounder past a diving senior first baseman Dalton Horstmeier, bringing in both runners, putting the Bears in the lead, 3-1.
In the fourth, Weigand would get in more trouble, putting two on for Matt Brown, who stroked an RBI single up the middle, putting MSU up 4-1.
However, the Aces would respond in the very next inning, as Dalton Horstmeier lifted a double down the left field line, and junior outfielder Troy Beilsmith came all the way around from first base to score, cutting the deficit to two, at 4-2.
Weigand would give way in the bottom of the inning to junior right hander Austin Allinger. For the day, the junior southpaw gave up four runs on six hits, while striking out one, giving up no walks in the process.
The Evansville bats would erupt in the sixth frame. First, Beilsmith would singled through the right side of the infielder to bring in sophomore infielder Craig Shepherd from third, cutting the Missouri State lead to 4-3. Next, freshman third baseman Tanner Craig lined an RBI single to left, scoring Beilsmith from third with the equalizer, making it 4-4. Kenton Crews would cap the three-run frame, driving in Horstmeier for the go-ahead tally, giving the Aces back the lead, 5-4.
Allinger cruised through the sixth frame. However, the seventh was another matter, as a lead-off double, then a throwing error on a pick-off attempt put Jeremy Eierman on third with no outs. Drew Milas would bring Eierman home on a sacrifice fly to center, knotting the game up at 5.
The bottom of the eighth began with Allinger walking the lead-off batter, which ended his day, as he gave way to sophomore left hander Nathan Croner. Croner walked the first batter he faced, then a sacrifice bunt Logan Geha moved the runners into scoring position. That set up John Privitera, who hoisted up a sky-high sacrifice fly to right, bringing in Matt Brown for the go-ahead score, 6-5 Missouri State.
Evansville went down in order in their final at-bat, to end the game.
The Aces fall to 6-17 on the season, the Bears improve to 20-7.
