The University of Southern Indiana baseball team erupted for four home runs in the nightcap to get a doubleheader split with the University of Indianapolis Friday afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Screaming Eagles lost the opener, 10-6, but rebounded with the win in the nightcap, 10-2.
USI watched its record go to 26-19 overall and 13-9 in the GLVC, while UIndy ends the day 28-19, 10-12 GLVC. Â The nightcap win also clinched USI a spot in the upcoming GLVC Tournament, scheduled for May 10-13 at the U.S. Ball Park in Springfield, Missouri.
The Eagles and the Greyhounds will conclude the four-game series and the regular season Sunday at 11 a.m. (CDT) in Indianapolis.
Game 1:Â
The Eagles allowed seven-unanswered in the seventh and eighth innings before losing a 10-6 decision in the opening game.
After the Greyhounds scored first with a run in the opening frame, USI responded by taking a 2-1 lead after three-and-a-half frames. The Eagles manufactured its first three runs of the game, beginning in the second inning when freshman shortstop Ethan Hunter (Terre Haute, Indiana) drove in USI’s first run of the game with a sacrifice fly, scoring senior right fielder Buddy Johnson (Shelbyville, Kentucky) in the second inning.
Senior more leftfield Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) manufactured the second tally and gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, 2-1, with a sac fly that scored freshman centerfielder Bryce Krizan (Mt. Vernon, Indiana). Bryce Krizan had moved into scoring position singling and stealing second and third.
The Greyhounds regained the lead, 3-2, with single tallies in the fourth and sixth before junior catcher Logan Brown (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) recorded USI’s third sac fly of the contest to knot the game, 3-3, in the seventh.
USI added two more runs in its three-run seventh on an RBI-double by Hunter and an RBI-single by junior second baseman Jacob Fleming (Evansville, Indiana) to give the Eagles their largest margin of the game, 5-3.
The two-run lead would not last as the Greyhounds scored seven-unanswered runs, four in the seventh and three in the eighth to post a 10-5 advantage. USI would get a run back in the ninth on an RBI-double by Fleming, scoring Brown, for the 10-6 final.
Eagles’ junior right-hander Austin Krizan (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) started and took the loss. Austin Krizan (2-3) allowed seven runs, five earned, on 12 hits and two walks, while striking out three.
Game 2:Â
The USI bats saw a power surge in the nightcap as the Eagles combined to hit four home runs in a 10-2 win.
USI spotted UIndy a 2-0 lead in the opening frame before junior catcher Logan Brown and freshman shortstop Ethan Hunter went deep back-to-back in the second frame of game two. Brown started the power surge with a three-run blast to right field before Hunter followed with a solo shot, also to right, to make the score 4-2.
USI senior leftfielder Drake McNamara continued his quest for the Eagles’ single-season home run record when he hit the first of two blasts, a single shot in the third to make the score, 5-2. McNamara would seal the victory in his next at-bat when he crushed grand slam to put the Eagles into cruise control at 9-2 in the fourth.
The two nightcap round-trippers for McNamara put him two short of the USI single-season record of 14 held by Kevin Brown (1993) and Dylan Mooney (2010).
The USI lead increased one more time in the game, climbing to 10-2, as junior second baseman Jacob Fleming singled in freshman centerfielder Bryce Krizan, who had tripled with one out in the fifth.
On the mound for USI, senior right-hander Devin Williams (Evansville, Indiana) posted hits fourth win of the season. Williams (4-4) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking three in his first complete game of the season.
