EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball reached double-digit runs for the fifth-straight game in defeating McKendree University, 17-7, Tuesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI, which was 4-1 during the homestand, watched its record go to 14-26 overall in 2023, while McKendree is 17-27 this spring.
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USI, which has won five of its last six games, had to rally after allowing three McKendree runs in the first inning. The Eagles took the lead for good in the bottom of the opening frame by responding with four runs of their own.
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USI senior second baseman Lucas McNew (Floyds Knobs, Indiana) increased the margin to three, 6-3, when he hit a rocket off the top of the right field wall. The round tripper was his fourth of the season and the 24th of his career.
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After McKendree cut the margin to 6-4 with a tally in the top of the third, USI responded with two more runs and an 8-4 advantage when junior first baseman Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas) hit his team-best eighth home run of the season, a two-run blast to right field.
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USI and McKendree traded two-runs in the fifth, while McKendree closed to within three, 10-7, with a solo tally in the sixth. That would be as close as the Bearcats would come as the Eagles exploded six runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 16-7 lead.
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Freshman third baseman Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) and Ebest capped off the frame with a RBI-triple and RBI-double, respectively. Niehaus, Ebest, and junior catcher Parker Stroh (Grand Forks, North Dakota) had a team-best three RBIs each in the victory.
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After the Bearcats were set down in the top of the seventh, USI closed out the game in the bottom of the seventh when junior leftfielder Drew Taylor (Jeffersonville, Indiana), who had a team-best three hits in the game, knocked in the final tally for the 17-7 victory.
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On the mound, senior right-hander Brady Bowling (Brentwood, Tennessee) picked up his first win of the season in relief. Bowling allowed three runs, one earned, on one hit and three walks, while striking out one in three innings of work.
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Up Next for the Eagles:Â Â
The Eagles, who is 5-10 in the Ohio Valley Conference, returns to conference action on the road this weekend when they visit Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for a three-game series April 28-30. The series starts Friday at 5 p.m.; continues Saturday at 1 p.m.; and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.
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The SIUE Cougars, who host the University of Missouri Wednesday evening, open the week with a 22-17 overall mark, 5-7 in the OVC. SIUE, currently, is in the middle of a three-game losing streak and has lost five of the last seven games.
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USI trails the all-time series with SIUE, 56-44, but is .500 over the last 30 meetings (2001-08) and has won seven of the last 10 games (2007-08). In the final series between the Eagles and Cougars in GLVC play, USI took three of four from SIUE Roy E. Lee Field.
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