EVANSVILLE, Ind. – After falling behind early, the University of Evansville baseball team exploded for 15 unanswered runs from the third inning-on to post a 17-6 run-rule victory over the fourth-seeded Illinois State Redbirds in the first round of the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
“What response today by our team!” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “We fell in a hole early, but then our offense responded well, and we were able to deliver barrel after barrel after barrel. It was really special to see our seniors have the days that they had today, and it was great to have Chase Hug back in the lineup.
“I know it was a 9 a.m. game, but I thought that our fans showed up today, and that helped our guys respond the way they did today. I want to thank them for coming out today, and hopefully, we’ll see them again all week long!”
Illinois State jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of home runs by first baseman Judah Morris and outfielder Noah Rabin. UE would quickly respond, though with two home runs of its own in the bottom of the first inning, as senior shortstop Simon Scherry homered on the first pitch UE saw, and graduate first baseman Chase Hug added a solo home run three batters later to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Illinois State would add two more home runs in the third inning by outfielder Daniel Pacella and Rabin to push the lead to 6-2. But, once again, UE would respond in the bottom half of the inning, and this time, UE’s offense would not stop.
Evansville plated four runs in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 6-6 on a two-run single by graduate third baseman Brent Widder, a sacrifice fly by junior second baseman Cal McGinnis and an RBI single by junior outfielder Ty Rumsey.
The Purple Aces then exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning to take control of the contest. Senior designated hitter Kip Fougerousse began the scoring with a long two-run home run to left-center field to give UE a 8-6 lead. Graduate catcher Brendan Hord then added a three-run home run to move the advantage to 11-6 later in the frame. Evansville would eventually bring 12 men to the plate in the inning, with graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger adding an RBI single and Fougerousse delivering his second RBI hit of the frame with a two-out RBI single.
Evansville would tack on two more runs in the sixth inning before Hord would end the game with a two-run home run to right field to invoke the mercy rule. Hord would lead UE offensively with his second career multi-home run game, going 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI. McGinnis and Shallenberger both had three-hit days as well, while Scherry, Fougerousse, Hug, and Rumsey had two-hit performances. All nine members of the UE starting lineup collected base hits and scored runs in the game, as UE racked up 19 hits.
Senior reliever Shane Harris (7-6) earned the victory by tossing 4.0 scoreless innings of four-hit baseball with two strikeouts.
Evansville improves to 32-23 overall with the victory, while Illinois State falls to 28-26 with the loss. Evansville will now advance on to the second round, where it will face the winner of tonight’s game between No. 2 Murray State and No. 5 UIC on Thursday night. The first pitch for the game is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS. Tickets for every game of the MVC Tournament are available by contacting Logan Belz in the UE Athletic Ticket Office by phone at 812-488-2623.
