“Great come from behind win for us tonight against a good team,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “It was great to see our offense fight back from an early deficit and go win the game. Our bullpen did a great job keeping us within striking distance. That 9th inning was special with some great at bats and Chase Hug stepped up with a big HR.”
A tough start forced Evansville to battle back most of the contest as WKU loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Andrew Delaney brought them all home driving a grand slam to left field to hand WKU a 4-0 lead.
Evansville starter Donovan Schultz settled in after the first, allowing just one other run, an RBI ground out in the third, but Evansville’s offense could not generate runs in the first four innings as the Aces trailed 5-0.
The offense bounced back in the top of the fifth inning, pushing across four runs. After Ben Stuart reached on a leadoff walk, Ty Rumsey got to first on a Hilltopper error. WKU put another runner on as Evan Berkey was hit by a pitch, bringing Simon Scherry to the plate. Scherry would deliver, driving a base hit past the third baseman, scoring Stuart and Rumsey. Later in the inning, Evansville scored two more on mistakes by the Hilltoppers with Roberts driving in a run on an error and Scherry scoring on an error as WKU tried to throw-out Roberts attempting to steal second, but the ball got away.
WKU would answer with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to grab a 7-4 lead.
Down to its final three outs, the Evansville offense shined. A leadoff single from Berkey opened the inning the right way. Berkey then got pushed to second on a groundout and came home to open the scoring on an RBI base knock from Craig. The Aces got within one run on the next at-bat with a single from Brent Widder bringing Craig home. After the second out of the inning, Brendan Hord got on with a single, putting a pair of runners on for Chase Hug. On the first pitch thrown to him, Hug lifted a towering shot to right center field that cleared the wall and gave the Aces a 9-7 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
The Hilltoppers challenged the Aces in the bottom half as Jakob Meyer came to the mound. After Meyer induced a leadoff groundout, pinch hitter Justin Carlin got a double to bring the tying run to the plate. Following up the double, WKU scored a run on a double to left center, getting the Hilltoppers within one at 9-8. After the back-to-back doubles, Meyer locked-in. The junior produced a fly-out to left for the second out and then pounded home back-to-back swinging strikes to close the contest and secure the 9-8 win for Evansville.
Evansville continues its action-packed week with a road contest at SIUE on Wednesday at 5 PM in Edwardsville, Ill.
