EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball has added Ali Saunders, a 5-10 guard from Depauw, Indiana, who is transferring from Valparaiso University.

Saunders just wrapped up her freshman season with Valpo, making nine starts in 30 games played. Saunders was second on the team in scoring with 10.7 points per game, shooting over 47 percent from the floor and 43 percent from beyond the arc. She also connected at the free-throw line at an 84 percent clip. The USI newcomer dished out a team-best 81 assists, had 22 steals, and averaged nearly two rebounds per contest. Saunders averaged 24 minutes per game for the Beacons.

“We are very excited to have Ali join our team and the USI family!” USI Women’s Basketball Rick Stein said. “Ali is coming off an outstanding freshman season, where she made an immediate impact on both ends of the court.”

At the end of the 2022-23 season, Saunders was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team after leading all MVC freshmen in scoring and assists, both overall and in conference play.

“Ali has a versatile skill set on the offensive end where she can make shots and create plays for herself and her teammates,” Stein added. “Ali is a leader and a tough competitor who fits in perfectly with our style of play.”

Saunders scored in double figures 18 times and handed out five or more assists five times in the regular season. The guard’s freshman campaign was highlighted by a 32-point performance on November 21 against the University of Alabama Birmingham, setting a new Valpo freshman record. In February, Saunders scored 19 points on a perfect night shooting, going 7-for-7 from the field with one made three and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe. She became the first Valpo player with a 100% field goal percentage on at least seven attempts since 2004.

Prior to college, Saunders played for North Harrison High School, where she graduated early to enroll at Valparaiso. On the court, the Depauw, Indiana native surpassed 1,000 career points in her junior season at North Harrison, averaging more than 20 points per game her last two seasons. Saunders was also an all-state and all-conference selection twice. Plus, she earned all-conference honors three times as a soccer player for North Harrison, helping the high school to conference and sectional championships in 2019.

VINCENNES, Ind. – Vincennes University sophomore center fielder Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) set a new school record for hits in a career Friday afternoon, giving him 163 surpassing Jeffrey Hanna who set the record back in 1989.

“Colin has had a great career here,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “We were fortunate to have him back this year. He plays a great centerfield and is now the career hits leader at VU, so that’s a pretty big feather in his cap. Tip of the cap to him for what he’s accomplished here.”

Unfortunately, the rest of the day did not go as well for the Blazers, falling in game one of the day 12-2 and dropping game two 11-1 to No. 12-ranked Parkland College.

The day started out great for VU, getting on the board first in the second inning of game one after Vincennes led off the inning with three straight singles by sophomores Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) and Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.) and freshman Blake Heyerly (Monroe, Ind.).

Coy and Egger came around to score later in the inning on a two-RBI single by sophomore Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.).

The Blazers were unable to keep the momentum at Jerry Blemker Field however, with Parkland answering back in a big way to put up seven runs in the third to grab the lead.

The Cobras continued to build on their lead with a pair of runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to take a 10-run lead.

The Trailblazers looked to answer back but were unable to put together a rally, even with VU’s batters accounting for 11 hits for the game, as Parkland took game one of the day 12-2.

Freshman Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start on the mound in game one of the day, after throwing two innings of one-hit shutout ball, the game got away from him in the third as McCormick finished three and one-third innings, allowing nine runs on seven hits and striking out one.

Freshman Jack Robinson (Mooresville, Ind.) came out of the bullpen to throw the remaining inning and two-thirds, allowing three runs, all unearned, on two hits and striking out one.

“We competed today for about two innings,” Barney said. “Then, for some reason, we couldn’t find the strike zone. Both games our starting pitching just didn’t get it done. It’s disappointing to see guys not be able to get out of the second inning that have been doing it all year for us in McCormick and Hart. So to do it in back-to-back games is not a great way to start the weekend.”

Game two of the day did not get off to a good start for the Blazers with Parkland starting the game with a six-run first inning.

VU looked to answer back in the bottom half of the inning and got a leadoff double by Ethan Burdette, followed by a single by sophomore Kobe Bartlett (Rockport, Ind.).

Burdette was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Colin Long to cut the VU deficit to 6-1.

Parkland responded in the second to get the run back and built on their lead with two runs in the third and a run in the fourth and fifth inning to take an 11-1 lead.

VU looked to extend the game and got a leadoff walk by freshman Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.), his second walk of the game but the Blazers were unable to push another run across as Parkland closed out the 11-1 victory.

Sophomore Xavier Hart (Jeffersonville, Ind.) got the start in game two for VU, throwing an inning and a third, allowing seven runs on four hits and striking out two.

Sophomore Dawson Blaylock (Eaton, Ohio) was the first out of the pen in game two, throwing an inning and two-thirds, allowing two runs on three hits.

Sophomore Eli Steimel (Sullivan, Ind.) entered in the fourth, throwing an inning and two-thirds, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out one before turning the game over to sophomore Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) who picked up a strikeout to end the fifth inning.

“We couldn’t get out of the first inning without the game getting away from us in game two,” Barney added. “Also, our hitters have to set up and do a better job. We had some opportunities to score some runs and come up with some key hits when we are down and try to change the momentum and we just didn’t get it done.”

“We also have to play better defense,” Barney said. “We had a couple miscues today. Had four errors on the day. There were some bloopers that fell both ways but they had a few more than we did and Parkland stepped up when they needed to.”

The Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) series now shifts to Champaign, Ill. for the final two games of this four-game weekend set Saturday, May 6. First pitch tomorrow is set for 1 p.m. eastern.

“We are going to have to play better baseball tomorrow,” Barney said. “Reset is probably the better way to look at it, there are not a whole lot of things to take out of these games today. We’ve got to come ready to play, compete and throw strikes. Hopefully Gavin Craggs and Logan Medsker can get it done for us on the mound and give our hitters a chance to breathe a little bit and not have to play from behind as much.”

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Parkland – 007   23 – 12

VU (21-28, 9-16) – 020   00 – 2

VINCENNES HITTING

RBI – Burdette 2. SB – Evans.

GAME TWO

Parkland – 612   11 – 11

VU (21-29, 9-17) – 100   00 – 1

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Burdette. RBI – Long. SF – Long. SB – Bartlett.

Game two set for Saturday at 2 p.m.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Northern Iowa pitcher Samantha Heyer tossed a perfect game on Friday to lead the Panthers to an 8-0 victory over the University of Evansville softball team at the Robinson-Dresser Sports Complex.

Heyer struck out 10 Purple Aces batters in the contest.  Sydney Weatherford made the start for Evansville with seven runs, six earned, scoring in four innings.  Paige McAllister recorded the final two outs of the game.

Following a scoreless opening frame, the Panthers plated a run on a UE error in the second.  Two more runs scored in the third before four crossed the plate in the fourth to make it 7-0.  Daryn Lamprecht had an RBI double in the frame.

In the fifth, UNI put the finishing touches on the win as their 8^th run crossed the plate on a Madison Parks single to seal the 8-0 win.

On Saturday, the squads meet up for a 2 p.m. game.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  The University of Evansville baseball team exploded for 13 runs on Friday night, and junior starter Nick Smith posted another quality start on the mound, as the Purple Aces cruised to a 13-3 victory over the homestanding Illinois State Redbirds at Duffy Bass Field in Normal, Illinois.

“Another great win on a Friday night to start a Valley weekend tonight,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “I thought that we played well in all three areas.  So, the challenge is to put together three games in a row like this, unlike last weekend.

“It is important to show that we can perform like this multiple days in a row as we get closer to the conference tournament.”

Graduate third baseman Eric Roberts set the tone for the evening with a lead-off inside-the-park home run to right field to give UE an early 1-0 lead.  The Purple Aces then exploded for five runs in the second inning, highlighted by a grand slam by fifth-year first baseman Chase Hug to push the lead to 6-0.

Illinois State would plate two runs against Smith in the third inning, but the Purple Aces would respond immediately with two runs in the top of the fourth inning on a two-run single by Hug to retake a six-run lead, 8-2.  Smith (4-3) then locked in and retired the next 11 batters in order on the mound, before finishing his night allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings of work to pick up the victory.

Evansville added to its lead in the fifth inning with an RBI double by sophomore outfielder Ty Rumsey and an RBI single by Roberts.  Junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse then added an RBI single to left field in the eighth inning to move the lead to 11-3, before fifth-year outfielder Danny Borgstrom capped the scoring with a two-run double down the right-field line in the ninth inning to provide the final margin of victory.

Roberts finished a triple shy of the cycle by going 3-for-6 with the inside-the-park home run and two RBI.  Fougerousse also added three hits and an RBI, while Hug, Rumsey and junior designated hitter Brendan Hord all had two-hit efforts.  Hug added a career-high six RBI.

With the victory, Evansville improves to 27-18 overall and 10-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Illinois State, meanwhile, falls to 17-25 and 6-13 in the Valley with the loss.  The two teams will continue the series on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. with a contest that can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.  Junior LHP Donovan Schultz (5-3, 4.02 ERA) is expected to get the start for UE.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The two-time defending Region 24 Champion Vincennes University volleyball program is proud to announce another sophomore signing with setter Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) signing with NAIA Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“I chose Keiser University to continue my volleyball career because the program is a winning team and hard working in every practice,” Mulligan said. “I feel that I will end my volleyball career reaching my potential.”

“Joie is a long, athletic player with good individual skills,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “We generally like to recruit tall setters who can play in the front row if needed for a 5-1 offense. Joie has played some front row for two years and can hold her own at the net. She has developed her blocking skills, which she was never coached with before coming here. She is also left-handed, so she can hit the ball on the second contact when she is in the front row.”

“I find Joie extremely coachable as a setter in our offense,” Sien added. “The main idea here is to make the best choice to put the hitter in the best position to get a kill and she has developed a great sense for that.”

Mulligan split time as setter for the Trailblazers but was still able to finish with a very impressive 842 set assists in her two years in the Blue and Gold.

Mulligan also recorded 354 digs, 57 aces and 23 kills during her time at VU, while also finishing with seven double-doubles last season.

“Joie had a very good season this year,” Sien said. “She did have a setback when she was out for two weeks early in the season. I give her a lot of credit for coming back strong. The toughest position to return to after an extended absence is setting. It is literally like starting all over again.”

Mulligan was one of five VUVB sophomores who closed out their Trailblazer career’s this past November with a combined record of 51-13 overall, including an outstanding 24-0 record against Region 24 opponents.

Mulligan, along with sophomores Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who signed to play at Union College, Kaley Roush (Shoals, Ind.) and Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.), who are returning to VU in the fall to continue pursuing their nursing degrees and Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland), who is still looking at various options for next year, were part of the first Trailblazer volleyball squad to win a Region Championship since making the jump to NJCAA Division I in 2016 and winning VU’s first Region Championship since 2006 in 2021.

“What it means to be a part of this is everything to me and more,” Mulligan added. “I started my freshman year not knowing if I was going to even play and I ended up being a huge part of the team and was able to help lead two successful seasons with talented girls who I loved on and off the court. I could not be happier with how my volleyball career at VU ended.”

“My favorite memory at VU is winning Region this year,” Mulligan said. “Since it was the second time and being able to do it with my favorite people again and with more confidence this time was so exciting. I’m going to miss my friends at VU the most.”

“Vincennes University was a great transition from high school to college for me because I got the undivided attention I needed in the classroom starting college,” Mulligan added. “Learning how to maintain my grades and becoming a leader on the court.”

“This group of sophomores is such an excellent group to work with,” Sien said. “I have said this in the past, you can always replace the position, but you can never replace the person. They will all be missed. Of course, this class has the back-to-back Region titles, a first in program history. We all know about athletics at Vincennes University, every program has had great success. Though the volleyball program has had that type of success in the past, this class helped bring the program closer to excelling with higher expectations on a consistent basis. This is the legacy they leave for future teams.”

Mulligan is joining a very talented Seahawks team that finished last season with a 32-8 record and reached the Championship game of the Sun Conference Tournament under Head Coach James Rogers.

“Keiser has been a successful program in the past five years or so,” Sien said. “Joie will have an opportunity to run another high-level offense. They are in a tough conference with quite a bit of traveling for competition. Again, our schedule, as we do the most traveling in the Region, equips our students on how to handle life on the road.”

“This is the furthest south we have had anyone sign since I have been at VU,” Sien added. “Four-year schools in Florida typically get transfers from states closer, so this could potentially open up a whole new region of the country that we can get our kids to with Joie’s signing.”

The Vincennes University Athletic Department would like to congratulate Josephine Mulligan on her signing with Keiser University and wishes her good luck as she continues her volleyball career in the fall.