Aces take 2-0 victory

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sydney Weatherford and Megan Brenton combined to earn a 2-0 shut out victory over Southern Illinois at Tri-State Orthopaedics Field at James and Dorothy Cooper Stadium on Sunday.

Weatherford picked up her fourth win of the season with five innings of work.  She allowed seven hits and struck out a pair.  Brenton threw the final two innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two.  Neither pitcher gave up a walk.

The tone was set for a pitcher’s duel in the early going as Sydney Weatherford retired the Salukis in order to begin the game.  Taylor Howe picked up a hit in the first while Alexa Davis added one in the second.  Davis also got the job done on the defensive side, making a diving catch in center field to prevent a sure double.

In the bottom of the fourth, the scoreless tie was broken when the Purple Aces plated two runs.  Jess Willsey, Davis and Karlee Frobeter all walked to load the bases with one out.  Willsey scored on a wild pitch before Hannah Hood hit a bloop single into left to make it a 2-0 game.

Highlighted by a pair of defensive gems from Zoe Frossard, the Salukis were held scoreless in the top of the fifth.  Her diving catch in right field prevented a base hit to record the first out while an even better play cemented the second out.  With a runner on first, the Salukis picked up a base hit, which Frossard grabbed and threw out the runner a third.

Brenton entered in the top of the sixth and took care of business, allowing just one hit to secure the shut out victory.  UE recorded three hits on the day while the Salukis had eight.  Elizabeth Warwick and Emma Austin registered two hits apiece.

For the second week in a row, the Aces will travel to Terre Haute as they will face the Sycamores on Tuesday at 3 p.m. CT.

CARBONDALE, Ill.—Junior Audrey Comastri (Indianapolis, Indiana) raced to a first-place finish in the 800 meters Saturday as University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field went 1-4 in the event en route to a fourth-place finish at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic.

Comastri finished the race with an outdoor personal-best time of two minutes, 15.56 seconds as four Screaming Eagles etched their names on USI’s all-time outdoor 800-meter list.

While Comastri’s time is third all-time at USI, senior Kara Martin (Herrin, Illinois) was on her heals in a second-place finish. Martin crossed the finish line in 2:15.97, which ranks fourth all-time at USI.

Freshman Emily Rempe (Owensboro, Kentucky) ran the fifth-fastest outdoor 800-meter time in school history as she was third with a time of 2:17.31, while junior McKenna Cavanaugh’s (New Albany, Indiana) fourth-place time of 2:18.98 ranks 11th all-time.

In addition to the 800 meters, Comastri, Martin and Rempe teamed with senior Emma Brown (Evansville, Indiana) for a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay, while senior Carmen Rodriguez (Olney, Illinois) was second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Sophomore Katie Winkler (Santa Claus, Indiana) was third in the 1,500 meters to lead of a quartet of Eagles that placed 3-6 in the event.

As a team, the Eagles racked up 52 points en route to their fourth-place finish.

USI returns to action April 13-15 when it competes at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team used a little two-out magic on Saturday afternoon to erupt for nine runs, and the Purple Aces held off a furious ninth-inning rally by the visiting Valparaiso Beacons to even their Missouri Valley Conference series with a 9-8 win at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

“Our offense came through with some big at-bats today, which was great to see,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “It is also great to see Brent Widder getting hot, as he delivered multiple times for us today.

“Tomorrow is an important day, with the series on the line.”

Evansville went 6-for-14 with two outs and produced six two-out RBI in the contest to fuel the offense.

The Purple Aces struck first in the second inning, as junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse knocked a one-out double and fifth-year outfielder Danny Borgstrom produced a sacrifice fly to give UE a 2-0 advantage.

The Beacons would answer right back with a two-out run of its own in the third inning, before Fougerousse would deliver a two-out, two-run single in the home-half of the frame to push UE’s lead to 4-1.

Two more two-out runs would score in the sixth inning to move the lead to 6-1.  Graduate outfielder Eric Roberts knocked a two-out RBI double, and junior shortstop Simon Scherry followed two batters later with an RBI single for UE.

The Beacons would scratch across two runs in the seventh inning to make it a 6-3 contest.  UE’s two-out magic was not done though, as Widder came through with a two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning as part of a three-run frame to push the lead to 9-3.  The three insurance runs were needed for UE, as Valparaiso scored five two-out runs in the top of the ninth inning, before freshman Max Hansmann got the final out to nail down his first collegiate save.

Widder went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI to help lead the UE attack.  Fougerousse also had two hits and drove in three runs, and Scherry and Roberts added two hits apiece as well.  Graduate reliever Michael Parks (2-0) picked up the victory on the mound, scattering two runs on six hits in 3.2 innings of relief work.

With the victory, Evansville improves to 18-12 overall and evens its MVC record at 4-4.  Valparaiso, meanwhile, falls to 10-13 overall and 2-6 in the MVC with the loss.  The series will conclude on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., as UE junior LHP Donovan Schultz (4-2, 3.82 ERA) is expected to face off against Valparaiso RHP Bobby Nowak (3-0, 2.12 ERA).  Sunday’s game 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.