“Great start to the series. Our offense really earned everything tonight at the plate,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “We had great at-bats early against a great pitcher.This was the offensive day we needed to get back on track. Shane Gray was outstanding as well. Tomorrow is a big day for the Aces.”Turning in his third-straight start allowing three-or-less runs, Shane Gray earned his seventh win of the season, working seven innings, allowing two runs and striking out three. On in relief, Nate Hardman and Michael Parks combined to pitch back-to-back hitless and scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth frames.
For the 12th time in 19 MVC contests this season, Evansville recorded double-digit hits, tallying 15 on the evening, led by Tanner Craig, Simon Scherry, and Chase Hug, who all had three. Scherry and Hug each launched a home run in the win, but Scherry held the edge with a team-best three RBI.
After a complete game win over Dallas Baptist in his last outing, Gray continued to pitch at an incredible level, facing the minimum through five innings and not allowing a Beacon to get past first base in the first five frames. Evansville put a crooked number on the scoreboard in its first crack in the bottom of the first as the Aces scored five runs, highlighted by Scherry’s sixth homer of the season, a three-run shot off the netting in left field.
UE added two more runs to its lead in the sixth as Brendan Hord ripped an RBI single and Craig lifted a run-scoring double to center to push the Aces lead to 7-0. In the next half inning, Gray ran into his first trouble of the day as the Beacons scored twice to get back within five runs.
Doing what it needed to in order to pull back away, the Aces scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh with Hug smashing a home run to right that scored Berkey and helped UE to its 9-2 series-opening win.
Evansville and Valparaiso will continue their series with the first pitch at 6 PM on Friday evening at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
