SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – University of Evansville fifth-year outfielder Eric Roberts was a one-man wrecking crew on Sunday, as he launched two home runs and drove in five runs to help the Purple Aces complete a Missouri Valley Conference series sweep at Missouri State with a 7-4 victory.

“What a special weekend this weekend at the ballyard by our club,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “To come on the road and sweep a very good ballclub in Missouri State is a great feather in the cap for our team, and a great way to start Missouri Valley Conference play.

“Today, it was fun to watch Eric Roberts hit, as he was really dialed in.  But, like all weekend, we had different guys up and down the lineup come through in big spots today to pick up this win.  It will be good to return home this week, and hopefully, we can keep this winning streak going.”

Evansville (16-7 overall, 3-0 MVC) won its ninth-straight game behind the bat of Roberts, who homered in back-to-back at-bats in the fourth and sixth innings to help UE overcome an early 2-0 deficit.

The Bears grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run home run by freshman outfielder Zack Stewart, his fifth home run of the year.  UE would get a run back in the third inning on an RBI single by fifth-year first baseman Chase Hug.  Then, Evansville would plate four runs in the fourth inning to take the lead for good.

Sophomore DH Ben Stuart tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI ground out.  Then, after a more-than 10-pitch at-bat by sophomore outfielder Ty Rumsey led to a walk with two outs to put two men on base, Roberts crushed his first home run of the day onto the roof of the indoor facility in right-center field to give UE a 5-2 lead.  Roberts would then launch another two-run home run in the sixth inning to help UE build a 7-2 cushion.

The Bears would score two runs in the eighth inning on a two-run double by Stewart to cut the lead to 7-4.  UE closer Nate Hardman would get a strikeout against the potential tying run in the eighth inning, and induced a key double play in the ninth inning to earn his second save and make a winner of starter Donovan Schultz.  Schultz (4-1) allowed just two runs on four hits in 5.0 innings of work, while striking out four.

Roberts finished the game going 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI.  Hug also had a two-hit day for UE.  Stewart went 3-for-4 with four RBI for Missouri State (11-11, 0-3 MVC).

Evansville will now return home to German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium to host Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.  The game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network courtesy of 107.1 FM-WJPS.

MINNEAPOLIS – Indiana men’s swimming and diving is bringing a trophy back to Bloomington after finishing as the No. 4 team in the nation at the 2023 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday (March 25) inside the Jane K. Freeman Aquatic Center.

The Hoosiers scored 379 points to earn their fourth top-five finish of the last five championships. Indiana remains among college swimming’s elite – in the last five years, only four team have consistently finished top six nationally: Cal, Texas, Florida and the Indiana Hoosiers. IU finished just short of third, five points back of Texas.

Over the week, three different Hoosiers won individual national championships, six program records were smashed, 10 medals were earned, and 10 IU athletes combined for 37 All-America honors. Indiana outperformed its No. 6 CSCAA national ranking as well as the psych sheet projections, which simulated a fifth-place performance.

“It was one of the major goals for the boys all year long to get a trophy, and what a battle,” IU head swimming coach Ray Looze said.” You really had six elite teams that the meet revealed, and we just feel so grateful that the guys just laid it on the line all day today. All the way from prelims to finals, and then the divers really gave us a shot with the way they performed.

“Final four, baby! We got a trophy, and that means you’re one of the best teams in the country, I’m so proud of them. It’s so gratifying that we can bring this home to Indiana University.”

Sophomore Carson Tyler joined the legendary list of Hoosier national champions on Saturday when he won the program’s first platform diving title and 21st diving total overall. Tyler scored 476.30 points to outduel Tennessee’s Bryden Hattie with 455.10. On his fifth dive, Tyler created space with a perfect score on his Back 3 ½ Somersault Tuck to earn a 99.00. He clinched the title with an 81-point dive in round six.

“What an amazing ending to an unbelievable week,” IU head diving coach Drew Johansen said. “Carson was spectacular tonight. His fifth-round dive was not only a perfect it, but it was done at the most critical moment of the event. Absolutely clutch!”

Tyler was joined in the top three buy bronze medalist and fellow sophomore Quinn Henninger, who tallied a 408.60. Indiana’s 36 points in the platform diving event were crucial to the team’s top-four finish at the end of the night. Totaling five medals and two national titles, Indiana diving accounted for 104 points in just three events.

Senior Andrew Capobianco’s collegiate career ends after winning his third-career NCAA 3-meter title Friday which followed a runner-up performance on 1-meter the day before. The Olympian closes this chapter of his career a three-time national champion, six-time NCAA medalist and 12-time All-American.

“Quinn’s third-place finish helped secure the team’s overall fourth-place finish,” Johansen said. “This is the future of IU diving. I’m so happy for the team and so excited to see what comes next.”

“Quinn and Carson were just remarkable,” Looze said, “and I have to give them a lot of credit for putting us in a position where our relay could do something.

Indiana was solid in all three disciplines all week: swimming, diving and relay. All five of IU’s relays had top-10 performances for the first time since the team’s third-place finish in 2019 and accounted for 136 points and all five finished higher than their seeding. On Saturday, the 400-yard freestyle relay quartet of senior Van Mathias, junior Tomer Frankel, junior Gavin Wight and sophomore Rafael Miroslaw placed sixth in 2:47.17, just six hundredths shy of the program record.

Individual swimming accounted for the remaining 136 points. IU swimmers earned eight first-team All-America (top eight) finishes and four medals. Senior Brendan Burns became the NCAA 100-yard backstroke champion on Friday with a program record 43.61. It was his first title in the event but second overall after winning the 200-yard butterfly a year ago. On Saturday, he followed that up with a national runner-up placement in the 200 fly.

Van Mathias’ fifth-year senior season of drastic time drops ended with three All-America finishes and a silver medal. Prior to this week, Mathias had never finished higher than 26th at the national meet.

Tomer Frankel was the only swimmer in the field to finish top-five in both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly events. The junior from Israel set personal bests in both races and earned a bronze medal in the 100 fly with a program record 44.04.

RESULTS

100 FREESTYLE

7. Van Mathias – 41.39 (All-America)

200 BREASTSTROKE

4. Josh Matheny – 1:50.12 (All-America, Career Best)

200 BUTTERFLY

2. Brendan Burns – 1:38.97 (NCAA Silver, All-America)
3. Tomer Frankel – 1:40.34 (All-America, Career-Best)

PLATFORM

1. Carson Tyler – 476.30 (NCAA Champion, All-America, Career Best)
2. Quinn Henninger – 388.05 (NCAA Bronze, All-America)

400 FREESTYLE RELAY

6. Van Mathias, Tomer Frankel, Gavin Wight, Rafael Miroslaw – 2:47.17

HOOSIER ALL-AMERICANS

Finn Brooks (200 Freestyle Relay*)
Brendan Burns (200 Medley Relay, 800 Freestyle Relay, 100 Butterfly*, 100 Backstroke, 400 Medley Relay, 200 Butterfly)

Andrew Capobianco (1-meter, 3-meter)

Tomer Frankel (200 Medley Relay, 800 Freestyle Relay, 100 Butterfly, 400 Medley Relay, 200 Butterfly, 400 Freestyle Relay)

Quinn Henninger (3-meter, Platform)

Josh Matheny (100 Breaststroke*, 400 Medley Relay, 200 Breaststroke)

Van Mathias (200 Medley Relay, 800 Freestyle Relay, 50 Freestyle*, 200 Freestyle Relay*, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Freestyle, 400 Freestyle Relay)

Rafael Miroslaw (800 Freestyle Relay, 200 Freestyle Relay*, 200 Freestyle*, 400 Medley Relay, 400 Freestyle Relay)

Carson Tyler (3-meter, Platform)

Gavin Wight (200 Medley Relay, 200 Freestyle Relay*, 400 Freestyle Relay)

* - Denotes Honorable Mention

PEORIA, Ill. – Coming off one of their best offensive series in years the Vincennes University baseball team ran into some excellent pitching at Illinois Central College Sunday as the Cougars came away with the doubleheader sweep winning game one 13-2 and taking game two 11-0.

The day got off to a very slow start for the Trailblazers, with Illinois Central getting on the board early and often in game one, putting up four runs in the first and seven runs in the second inning.

VU would get on the board in the fourth with three of the first four batters of the inning reaching base with singles and sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) driving in a run on a ground out and sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) coming through with an RBI single to cut the ICC lead to 11-2.

The Cougars would get those two runs back in the bottom of the inning and with the Blazers needing two runs to extend the game, freshman Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) led off the fifth with a single and later moved over to second on a Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) walk, but VU was unable to push a run across as ICC came away with the game one win 13-2.

Freshman Gavin Craggs (Taylorville, Ill.) got the start on the mound for the Trailblazers in game one, throwing an inning and a third, allowing seven runs on four hits and striking out two.

Freshman Bryton Griffy (Louisville, Ill.) entered to pick up the final two outs of the second inning without surrendering a run or a hit.

Freshman Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) looked to really settle things down on the mound, throwing two full innings, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out two.

Vincennes looked to bounce back in game two of the day and were able to load the bases in the top of the first, but were unable to get a run in the opening inning.

VU game two starter freshman Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) held his own in the early stages, throwing a one-two-three bottom of the first to get the VU batters another shot to score.

After Vincennes was sent down in order as well, the Cougars broke the early tie with a run in the second and three runs in the third to take a 4-0 lead after three.

The Blazers were able to get a runner in scoring position in the fifth and load the bases in the sixth but again were unable to get a run in.

Illinois Central picked up an insurance run in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead before coming back in the sixth to score six runs and pick up the win with a walk-off grand slam to close out game two and complete the doubleheader sweep by the final score of 11-0.

Josh McCormick held his own throughout most of the game, pitching into the sixth and allowing six runs on 10 hits and striking out three.

The Blazers will look to bounce back again tomorrow when VU returns to ICC for the third and fourth games of this Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) series.

Game one of the day tomorrow is set to begin at 2 p.m. eastern, with freshman Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) getting the ball on the mound for VU. Sophomore Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) will start the series finale for the Blazers.

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

VU (14-12, 4-1) – 000   20 – 2

Illinois Central – 470   2x – 13

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Evans. RBI – Long, Coy. BB – Burdette, Evans.

GAME TWO

VU (14-13, 4-2) – 000   000 – 0

Illinois Central – 013   016 – 11

VINCENNES HITTING

1B – Evans, Whitehead, Hinton.

-30-

The VU Trailblazers baseball team falls to 14-13 on the season, with a 4-2 record in MWAC Conference play.

Pensacola, Fla.:  Despite outshooting the Ice Flyers for a second-consecutive night, the Thunderbolts offense was again held to a single goal, as the Ice Flyers defeated Evansville 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at Pensacola Bay Center.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, April 1^st ^ against the Knoxville Ice Bears at 7:00pm CT.  For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.

Pensacola grabbed the game’s first lead at the 5:00 mark, as Sean Gulka scored on an early power play.  In response, Jeremy Masella tied the game with a power play goal from Felix Sasser to tie the game up at 18:47.  However, Pensacola struck back only 18 seconds later, as Mitch Atkins gave Pensacola a 2-1 lead at 19:05.  After a scoreless second period, Pensacola capitalized on a penalty shot as Malik Johnson scored at 9:12 to make it 3-1 Pensacola.  In the final minute, Garrett Milan scored into an empty net to make it a 4-1 game at 19:11.

Masella scored Evansville’s lone goal, while Zane Steeves stopped 18 of 21 shots.  The Thunderbolts remain in 5^th place in the SPHL standings but are still within reach of Roanoke in 4^th place, at which a finish in 4^th place or higher would secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs next month.  The Thunderbolts and Ice Flyers do not meet again this regular season.

Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for this 2022-23 season.  Season tickets for the 2023-24 season are now on sale as well.  Call 812-422-BOLT or visit our all-new website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.com) for details.

About Evansville Thunderbolts: The Evansville Thunderbolts is the area’s only professional hockey team. The Thunderbolts are a proud member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The team is owned and operated by VW Sports, L.L.C, a subsidiary of VenuWorks, Inc.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana Softball had its weekend series at Southeast Missouri State University conclude in heartbreaking fashion during Sunday’s doubleheader, falling 5-4 on a walk-off hit after an 11-0 loss earlier in the day.
 
The walk-off hit in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader allowed Southeast Missouri to take all three games in the weekend series. Following Sunday’s double-dip, Southern Indiana is 10-14 overall and 4-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast Missouri moved to 14-8 this season and 7-1 in conference play.
 
In the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, the Redhawks’ offense picked up where it left off from Saturday’s contest. After the leadoff hitter reached and stole second base, an RBI single put Southeast Missouri in the run column first. SEMO led 2-0 after the first inning. The Redhawks added two more runs in the second inning.
 
Southeast Missouri led 7-0 after three innings, coming off USI sophomore pitcher Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana). Charged with the loss, Gotshall moved to 2-3 on the season. The right-hander went three innings, struck out two, and gave up nine hits.
 
SEMO ended game 1 with a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning off USI freshman pitcher Raegan Gibson (Louisville, Kentucky) to win the game, 11-0, and clinch a series win. Gibson pitched an inning and a third in relief of Gotshall.
 
In the back half of Sunday’s twin bill, USI jumped on the scoreboard first. In the top of the first inning, senior Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) doubled down the left field line to drive in freshman outfielder Caroline Stapleton (Shirley, Indiana). Southern Indiana went on to double its lead to 2-0 in the second inning on a solo home run from senior infielder Rachel Martinez (Chicago, Illinois), her second of the season.
 
The game remained 2-0 in favor of USI through four innings, as sophomore pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) was in a groove in the pitching circle. Newman struck out five batters through the first four frames.
 
Southeast Missouri made it a one-run game in the fifth, 2-1, as the leadoff hitter reached base with a triple. The runner would later score on a wild pitch. In the next inning, the Redhawks tied the game at two with a solo home run.
 
Southern Indiana reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh inning. With runners on first and second, Goodin singled to right field to drive in junior outfielder Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) and give USI a 3-2 advantage. One batter later, junior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) recorded a sac fly to put USI back up by two, 4-2.
 
The Redhawks responded in the bottom half of the seventh by getting the first two batters on base. Both runners advanced into scoring position with two outs. A two-RBI single tied the game at four before an infield hit scored the game-winning run for SEMO.
 
Offensively, for the Screaming Eagles, Goodin went 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs to extend her team-high RBI lead. Bedrick and Stapleton each had two-hit games, and Stapleton scored two runs.
 
Newman was dealt the loss, moving her record to 8-6 this season. The sophomore went 6.2 innings, allowing five runs with six strikeouts.
 
SEMO’s starter, sophomore Delaney Kell, took a no-decision after 6.1 innings of work and giving up two runs. Senior pitcher Marisa Davis picked up her sixth win after finishing out the game for the Redhawks.
 
The Screaming Eagles will return home to USI Softball Field next weekend. USI will host the University of Tennessee at Martin for a three-game set in Ohio Valley Conference play. Saturday’s doubleheader is slated to start at 1 p.m., and Sunday’s series finale is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch. All three games can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+ and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. Additional coverage links can be found on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.