VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team closed out their busy week of playing nine games in nine days by picking up the weekend sweep over Schoolcraft College with a 5-4 victory at Jerry Blemker Field Sunday.

The Blazers got off to another slow start Sunday afternoon with the Ocelots scoring in the first inning in all four games this weekend. Schoolcraft pushed one across in the first to take the early 1-0 lead.

VU would get on the board in the third after a lead off single by freshman Trevor Newman (Fort Wayne, Ind.).

Newman would come around to score on an RBI single by sophomore Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.) to even the score.

Burdette would score on an RBI single by freshman Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.) to give VU a 2-1 lead after three innings of play.

Schoolcraft would answer back with a run in the fourth to even the score at 2-2.

Vincennes would regain the lead in the sixth after Carter Whitehead led off the inning with a single. Whitehead would later score on a throwing error by Schoolcraft.

Sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) came through later in the inning with a two-out double and would be driven in on an RBI single by Trevor Newman.

VU would tack on an insurance run in the seventh after sophomore Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on an error.

Evans would score on an RBI single by Carter Whitehead, giving him three hits and two RBIs on the day.

This run would prove crucial for the Blazers after Schoolcraft looked to avoid the sweep with a late comeback and were able to get a run in the eighth and a run in the ninth.

The Ocelots had the tying run on first with no outs before VU sophomore closer Xavier Hart (Jeffersonville, Ind.) entered from the bullpen to strikeout the final three Schoolcraft batters of the day and complete the four-game weekend sweep for the Trailblazers.

“Our hitters took advantage of their mistakes today,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “We didn’t quite swing it as well as he had all weekend, but Schoolcraft’s starter was pretty solid today. Ethan Burdette really set the table for us today getting on base three times. Plus, two RBIs and three hits by Whitehead. A double by Dale Coy and an RBI down in the order by Newman. Kade Hinton got a sac bunt down and walked.”

“The positive thing, again, out of this is that a lot of guys contributed at the plate,” Barney added. “Hopefully we can keep that rolling into next weekend.”

Sophomore Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) got the start on the mound for the Blazers and threw five plus innings allowing two runs on six hits and striking out five.

Freshman Logan Medsker (Marshall, Ill.) was the first out of the bullpen for VU, throwing two shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out four.

Freshman Aaron Fenn (Fort Wayne, Ind.) came in to pitch the eighth inning and allowed two runs on three hits and striking out one.

Xavier Hart entered in the ninth with runners on first and second with no outs and would continue to strike out all three batters he faced to close out the win.

“Jake gave us a solid outing,” Barney said. “He gave us a chance to win and kept them to two runs. He had a quality start, but we’ve got to stay out of the walks and hit by pitches. Then the bullpen did a great job. Medsker came in and gave us two innings. Aaron Fenn did a great job in his inning and then you have Xavier Hart closing it out with three strikeouts. It was a really good job on the back end from our bullpen today.”

The Trailblazers will now have a week to prepare for their next opponent when VU opens Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) play next weekend by hosting Danville Area Community College Saturday, March 18 for a doubleheader with game one beginning at 2 p.m. eastern.

The four-game conference series will then shift to Danville, Ill. on Sunday, March 19 for the final two games of the series. First pitch Sunday is set for 2 p.m. eastern.

“The biggest thing we can, hopefully, take out of this weekend is confidence,” Barney said. “We also hopefully got used to what it was like to play four games in a weekend. If we can get those two things out of this weekend and have a solid week of practice ahead of us to get ourselves ready to go for Danville next weekend, then we feel good about where we stand right now.”

BOX SCORE

Schoolcraft – 100   100   011 – 4

VU (10-11) – 002   002   10x – 5

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Coy. RBI – Whitehead 2, Burdette, Newman. HBP – Coy. SB – Coy.

-30-

The VU baseball team improves to 10-11 on the season.

Aces on sixth place

 SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Nicholas Gushrowski and Henry Kiel shot even scores of 72 to lead the University of Evansville men’s golf team in the opening round of the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate.

Gushrowski and Kiel completed the even rounds on Sunday at the River Course of the Sevierville Golf Club.  The duo is tied for the 19^th position with two rounds remaining.  Third on the Purple Aces squad was Daniil Romashkin.  His 1-over 73 has him tied for 28^th on the leaderboard.

Michael Ikejiani carded a 2-over 74 while Luke Schneider shot a 75 in the first round of play.  The duo is tied for 38^th and 59^th, respectively.  Three individuals are in the event for UE with Carson Parker leading the way.  A 2-under 70 has him in a tie for 10^th place.  Isaac Rohleder recorded a 73 while Masatoyo Kato registered a 74 on Sunday.

UE is in 6^th place with a 291 and is just four strokes behind a 3-way tie for third.  Carson-Newman leads the team standings with a 280 while Walters State CC is three behind in second.  Two individuals pace the field with opening round scores of 67, five under par.

Monday’s round is set for a shotgun start at 11:30 a.m. ET.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball continues post season play in the Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational as the 15th seed and are slated to take on second-seeded San Jose State University in the opening round March 18 at 2:30 p.m. (CDT). The CBI, which runs March 18-22, is being played at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
 
Tickets are $8 and available through the Ocean Center Ticket Office and Ticket Master. The first two rounds of the CBI will be streamed on FloHoops, while the semifinals and the championship game will air live on ESPN2. Fans also can listen to the game on ESPN 97.7FM.
 
The Screaming Eagles enters the CBI with a 16-16 overall record and completed their 31^st-straight regular season with a .500 or better regular season mark (16-15) that dates back to the 1992-93 season. USI was the seventh seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament after completing first league schedule with a 9-9 mark.
 
USI is led by sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana), an All-OVC first team selection, and senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) with 15.6 points and 13.7 points, respectively. Graduate forward Trevor Lakes (Lebanon, Indiana) follows with 12.9 points per contest, while senior forward Jacob Polakovich, an All-OVC first team performer, is averaging 12.4 points per outing along with grabbing a team-best and OVC-leading 13.0 rebounds per game.
 
San Jose State continues its posts-season play with a 20-13 mark. The Spartans, who were fifth in the Mountain West Conference regular season, also advanced to the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament.          
 
In addition to USI and San Jose State, the CBI lower bracket includes third-seeded University of North Carolina Charlotte (18-14); sixth-seeded Stetson University (17-13); seventh-seeded Tarleton State University (17-13); 10^th-seeded Radford University (19-14); 11^th-seeded University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (21-11); and 14^th-seeded Western Carolina University (18-15). The winner of USI-San Jose plays the winner of the Tarleton/Radford game March 20 at 3:30 p.m. (CDT).
 
The upper bracket includes top-seeded Indiana State University (22-12); fourth-seeded Southern Utah University (22-12); fifth-seeded Duquesne University (20-12); eighth-seeded Eastern Kentucky University (20-13); ninth-seeded Cleveland State University (21-13); 12^th-seeded Rice University (18-15); and 16^th-seeded University of South Carolina Upstate (16-15).
 
Indiana State is the only team USI has faced this season with the Eagles coming away with an 88-85 win in overtime at Screaming Eagles Arena.
 

 

Evansville, In.:  Behind a 31-save performance from goaltender Zane Steeves, the Thunderbolts shut down and shut out the Macon Mayhem, 3-0 the final score on Saturday night at Ford Center.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Thursday, March 16^th against the Huntsville Havoc at 7:00pm CT.  For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.

Hayden Hulton opened the scoring at 6:47 of the first period, assisted by Andrew Shewfelt to give Evansville the early 1-0 lead.  The lead was extended to 2-0 in the second period, as Alex Cohen scored from Felix Sasser and Aaron Huffnagle at 7:08.  In the third period, Evansville capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play at 7:15, as Conner Jean scored from Sasser and Cohen to make it a 3-0 Evansville lead.  Zane Steeves saved some of his better saves for the final stretch of regulation, making a goal-line save with about seven minutes remaining to preserve the lead, which became a 31-save shutout, Steeves’ 2^nd of the season and Evansville’s 3^rd of the season overall.

Cohen finished with one goal and one assist, while Hulton and Jean each finished with one goal.  Sasser finished with two assists, while Steeves finished with 31 saves on 31 shots for his 12^th win of the season.  The win brings the maximum number of points needed for Evansville to clinch a playoff spot down to just 5 points out of 22 possible.  The win also keeps Evansville only 3 points of 4^th place, at which a finish in that place or higher would secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs next month.  The Thunderbolts and Mayhem do not meet again this season, with Evansville winning the season series 3-1.