Missouri State 10, Evansville 0

The University of Evansville baseball team came into the MVC tournament riding the momentum of a hot streak at the plate. However, in Wednesday’s postseason opener, the Purple Aces ran into a red-hot hurler, and fell 10-0 to top seeded Missouri State.

Head Coach Wes Carroll sent out freshman pitcher Austin Ruesch to make the opening game start, and the right hander looked sharp in the opening frame. However, after getting the first two outs of the second inning with ease,Ruesch ran into trouble, walking the next batter. Then, Brooks Zimmerman tagged him for a 2-run home run to left, putting the 24th ranked Bears in front early. Missouri State would strike for two more in the third, building a 4-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, the Aces put runners on base, but couldn’t bring them home, stranding six runners in the first four innings, as the Bears starter, Dylan Coleman managed to get out of early jams.

Ruesch would bounce back to toss two more scoreless frames, keeping Evansville within shouting distance. However, in the sixth inning, Ruesch was chased from the game after giving up a leadoff triple and a walk. Senior reliever Ryan Brady took over, picking up a pair of outs, but allowing two more runs in the process. Brady would turn things over to senior left hander Hunter Porterfield. however his luck was no better, giving up four more tallies before finally picking up the third and finally out. The Aces went to the seventh down 10-0.

Evansville threatened in the top of the frame, loading up the bases on Coleman. However, the Aces couldn’t cash in and fell in run-rule fashion, 10-0.

The loss drops the Aces to 12-38 overall and 3-19 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Missouri State improves to 36-15 on the season and 19-3 in the MVC.

Evansville will look to extend it’s season Thursday morning, when they face off against Southern Illinois in an elimination game back at Horner Ball Park. First pitch is at 9 am. The game will be streamed online on ESPN Plus, as well as 91.5 FM WUEV.