EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  The University of Evansville baseball team launched three home runs and knocked six doubles on Friday night, as the Purple Aces out-slugged the visiting Bradley Braves, 9-7, at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

“It feels great to get a win on a Friday behind our offense, which responded every inning that Bradley scored tonight,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “Tonight was a great back-and-forth Valley game that, thankfully, we were able to close out.”

The game actually started as a pitcher’s dual between UE RHP Nick Smith and Bradley RHP Jacob Kisting, as both teams were retired in order in the first inning, and the game was scoreless going into the third inning.  Bradley outfielder Ryan Vogel would change that though in the top of the third inning, with a two-out solo home run to left field to start the scoring.

In a storyline that would run throughout the night, Evansville would answer back immediately in the bottom of the third inning, as senior designated hitter Brent Widder and junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse both launched solo home runs to give UE a 2-1 lead.

Both teams would go scoreless in the fourth inning, before the real fireworks would begin in the fifth inning, as the two teams began trading run-scoring innings.

A solo home run by Bradley designated hitter Mason Breidenbach would tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning.  Fougerousse would quickly untie the game with a two-run home run to dead center field in the home-half of the frame to give UE a 4-2 lead.

Bradley would answer right back with three runs in the sixth inning to retake a 5-4 lead, before Widder would give Evansville a 6-5 lead with a two-run double off the wall in center field in the bottom of the sixth.

Bradley would once again retake the lead in the top of the seventh inning with a pair of runs, before fifth-year outfielder Danny Borgstrom knocked a two-run double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to give UE an 8-7 lead.  From there, junior reliever Shane Harris came on to toss a scoreless eighth inning for UE, and then fifth-year first baseman Chase Hug delivered an RBI single to left field in the bottom of the eighth to give UE a 9-7 lead.  Junior closer Nate Hardman worked around an infield single and a two-out walk to strike out Bradley’s Jackson Chatterton looking to end the threat and earn his eighth save of the year.

Fougerousse went 3-for-5 with his 10th and 11th home runs of the year to go along with a double, three runs scored and three RBI.  Widder also had three hits and finished a triple shy of the cycle in his first game back from injury since late April.  Borgstrom also had two hits and two RBI for UE.

With the victory, Evansville improves to 30-19 overall and 12-10 in the MVC and remains in fourth place in the Valley standings.  Thanks to tonight’s win and a Belmont loss earlier today, Evansville has now clinched a spot in the upcoming MVC Tournament at the end of May.  Bradley, meanwhile, falls to 14-29 overall and 5-17 in the MVC.  The two teams will continue the series on Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. contest that can be seen live on ESPN3 and heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.

VINCENNES, Ind. – Vincennes University sophomore Brayten Trinkle (Bicknell, Ind.) came through big in just his sixth at bat of the season, picking up a walk-off single to give the Blazers a 10-0 run-rule victory over Spoon River Friday afternoon.

The two teams then squared off in game two of this Mid-West Athletic Conference doubleheader, which saw Spoon River come away with the 5-3 victory in the regular season finale.

The Blazers got off to another excellent start in game one of the day, with sophomores Kobe Bartlett (Rockport, Ind.) and Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) hitting back-to-back singles, before sophomore Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases in the first.

Bartlett would score on a walk by freshman Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Long would come in to score on a wild pitch to give Vincennes an early 2-0 lead.

VU would build on this early lead in the third after a leadoff four-pitch walk by Bartlett, followed by an RBI double by Evans.

Evans would come around to score on an RBI single by Kade Hinton, who would score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.) to give VU a 5-0 advantage.

VU would continue to ride the momentum in the fourth with another walk by Kobe Bartlett, who would later score his third run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Colton Evans, followed by an RBI single by Kade Hinton, giving him three RBIs on the day and giving the Blazers a 7-0 lead.

VU would look to end the game in the sixth, with the first five batters of the inning reaching base, including walks by sophomore Rich Robinson (Chicago, Ill.), Kade Hinton and freshman Bryan Kohlmeyer (Paris, Ill.), as well as a single by freshman Tucker Helton (Terre Haute, Ind.) and a two-RBI single by freshman Xavier Brown (Franklin, Ind.).

Sophomore Brayten Trinkle stepped to the plate and came through with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI single and invoke the MWAC run rule, giving VU a 10-0 victory over Spoon River.

Sophomore Gavin Craggs (Taylorville, Ill.) threw a gem of a game on the mound in game one, allowing two hits over five innings, including only facing the minimum 12 batters through four innings. Craggs would also pick up five strikeouts.

Sophomore Dawson Blaylock (Eaton, Ohio) entered in relief to throw the sixth inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

“Gavin Craggs did a good job for us on the mound obviously and then Dawson Blaylock came in and threw a good inning,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “Gavin gave us five good innings of shutout baseball. We got some timely hitting and pretty good defense which allowed things to fall together pretty well for us in game one.”

The Trailblazers opted to sit most of their regular starting lineup in the regular season finale in game two and early in the game it looked like VU wouldn’t miss a beat.

Freshman Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.) led off the bottom of the first with a single and would be driven in on an RBI double by Blake Heyerly (Monroe, Ind.) to give VU an early 1-0 lead.

Spoon River would answer back immediately to get on the board for the first time on the day in the second, evening the game at 1-1.

The Snappers would later add to their lead with a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth to take a 4-1 lead over the Blazers.

At this point most of the sophomore regular starters had entered the game, looking to spark a late rally for VU and were able to get a run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Colton Evans.

Spoon River answered with a run in the seventh before VU got another run in the bottom of the seventh with sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) scoring on a groundout put in play by Xavier Brown.

Vincennes continued to get runners on base in the late innings, including a double off the wall by sophomore Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.) and a leadoff double in the ninth by Kobe Bartlett, but were unable to push any more runs across as VU fell in the regular season finale 5-3.

Freshman Logan Medsker (Marshall, Ill.) got the start on the mound in game two, throwing four innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six.

Sophomore Eli Steimel (Sullivan, Ind.) was the first out of the bullpen, throwing an inning and a third, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out two.

Sophomore Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) took over on the mound in the sixth, throwing an inning and a third, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two.

Freshman Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) closed out the seventh inning with a big strikeout with two runners on base and would get the first out of the eighth after allowing one hit.

Freshman Christian Pinson (Elizabethtown, Ky.) threw the remaining inning and two-thirds, allowing two walks and striking out four, including striking out the side in the ninth.

“Game two was just not very good coaching,” Barney said. “And that’s all on me. I’ll wear it. I played a lot of guys that hadn’t played, just trying to stay injury free going into the tournament and it kind of backfired against us. Our pitching has to do a better job, we walked too many guys and gave them multiple opportunities. We’re lucky that they only scored five runs off of it. We just have to do a better job overall, on my end too and we will once we get to the tournament next week. We’ll get back to our regular starting lineup and hopefully feel good about where we are at moving forward.”

The Trailblazers will now look to rest up for the postseason, which is set to begin Wednesday, May 17 at the Mid-West Athletic Conference tournament, hosted by Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill.

VU’s opponent and game time have yet to be determined. Vincennes will enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed.

“We just need to feel good about what’s going on heading into next week,” Barney added. “We know that we are competitive and come tournament time, anything can happen. It’s four games if you stay in the winner’s bracket, or it’s five or six if you fall into the loser’s bracket. We just need to be ready to play. Play error free baseball, come up with two out RBIs and minimize the free bases. If we can do those things, our chances are pretty good.”