EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team put it all together on the mound, at the plate and in the field as the Purple Aces blasted Belmont, 9-1, at Charles H. Braun Stadium Tuesday night.
“It’s tough to win at this level, obviously we’ve shown that this year, and for us to get a win feels good”, said Head Coach Wes Carroll. “We’re just trying to build some momentum off this. Finals are over with. Our guys can hopefully come to the yard and enjoy being around each other and play the game the right way. I think that was our most complete game of the season.”
It began with senior relief pitcher Ryan Brady, making the first start of his collegiate career, and he was sharp. The right hander tossed two innings of shutout work, striking out three, while allowing just one hit. Brady would be lifted after the second for fellow senior reliever Hunter Porterfield, who would come in and strike out a pair, while pitching a perfect third.
“It started on the mound with our pitchers, said Carroll. “I feel like they were winning a lot of even counts and putting a lot of goose eggs up on the board.”
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the frame, when the Aces bats came to life. Sophomore outfielder Troy Beilsmith opened the inning by sending hot shot past third base and down the third baseline, resulting in a leadoff double. Freshman first baseman Tanner Craig followed that up with a single up the middle, and a hustling Beilsmith raced around from first to score the icebreaker. Sophomore outfielder Kenton Crews would move Craig to second, legging out a bunt single in the process. Two batters later, sophomore shortstop Craig Shepherd ripped a single to right, tallying Craig and moving Crews over to third. The very next batter, senior catcher Travis Tokarek, making just his second start of the season behind the plate, grooved a shot to center, which got past a diving outfielder. Crews and Shepherd came around to score to make it 4-0 Evansville. Tokarek came around third, going for the rare inside the park home run, but got thrown out at the plate.
However, it wouldn’t matter. In the fourth inning, on the strength of five steals, the Aces kept scoring. RBI singles from Troy Beilsmith, senior outfielder Dalton Horstmeier and Kenton Crews pushed the UE lead to 7-0.
“We got a lot of leadoff batters on base and applied some pressure with our speed on their battery,” said Carroll.
Meanwhile, Porterfield (1-1) kept rolling along, tossing a scoreless fourth and fifth inning, striking out three, on his way to picking up his first win of the season. Junior left hander Alex Weigand would replace on the hill in the sixth, and got greeted with a solo home run off the bat Kyle Conger. However, that would be his only misstep in a solid 1 2/3 innings of work.
The Aces would tack on two more in the seventh inning, which Crews led off by lacing a triple to center. He would later score on a sacrifice fly from freshman designated hitter Pete Vaccaro. Craig Shepherd would score later in the frame on a wild pitch, making the score 9-1.
Junior reliever Austin Allinger and sophomore reliever Nathan Croner with combine to toss 2 1/3 innings of shutout pitching to close out the game.
The win improves Evansville’s record to 8-30 on the season, while the loss drops Belmont to 16-28.
The Aces now head down to the Lone Star State for a big weekend showdown with Missouri Valley Conference rival Dallas Baptist, beginning Friday night.
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