EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Evansville Otters used a third-inning Justin Felix home run to complete the three-game sweep of the Joliet Slammers Thursday night with a 6-0 win.

The game sailed through the first couple of innings before the Otters used a bloop single from Andy Armstrong to kickstart the offense in the third. Justin Felix followed with a no-doubt two-run home run to left, giving the Otters a lead they would not surrender.

The game returned to back-to-back scoreless innings before the bullpens got involved. In the seventh when Alec Thomas entered the game for Joliet, the Evansville offense started to produce baserunners thanks to walks.

Suddenly, the Otters’ lead grew to 4-0 after a pair of bases-loaded walks to Zach Biermann and J.R. Davis.

The final offense push came in the following at-bat with a two-run single from Dakota Phillips.

Evansville carried their 6-0 lead through the ninth, completing a three-game sweep over Joliet. The win marked the Otters’ seventh sweep this season, their fifth at Bosse Field.

Zach Smith grabbed his second consecutive win for Evansville, pitching seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits. Steve Moyers received the tough luck loss, allowing just two runs on the two-run home run from Felix.

Evansville begins their final regular season series at Bosse Field on Friday night, welcoming the Florence Y’alls to town. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

ULLIN, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team hit the road for the first time during the 2022 regular season and came away with a three-set sweep over Region 24 opponent Shawnee 25-6, 25-13, 25-11.

This matchup is one of VU’s longest road trips of the season, with the Blazers needing to not only battle a three-hour bus ride, but also a time change and a change in location with the match being played at Century High School in Ullin.

Vincennes grabbed control of the opening set quickly, jumping out to a 14-3 advantage over the Saints.

After a 3-0 scoring run by host Shawnee, the Trailblazers responded back to close out the set on an 11-0 scoring run of their own behind some impressive serving by freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey).

Set two began more as a back-and-forth battle before VU managed to open a 14-6 lead midway through the set.

The two teams traded points until sophomore Kaley Roush (Shoals, Ind.) stepped up to serve and came away with a 4-0 scoring run to take set two 25-13.

VU looked to close out the sweep in a big way in set three with sophomore Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) giving the Blazers a 16-3 lead after a 10-0 scoring run.

Shawnee attempted to battle back into the game but were unable to cut into the deficit as Vincennes came away with the 25-11 set win and the 3-0 match sweep.

“Tonight we were dealing with some challenging circumstances,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “Changing location and changing the time, making this match even later for us after a three-hour trip. Everything about today was a challenge and serves as sort of a ‘welcome to the season’ moment for us.”

“I feel like we handled it all pretty well overall,” Sien added. “I think our warmups were so-so. Normally you can tell how a team will play based on their warmups, but we were able to turn it around because we definitely played well during the match. It could have been much worse. We could have been out there for much longer than we needed to be.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) who finished the night with eight kills and an outstanding .600 hitting percentage.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Soccer fell in their season opener against Belmont University, 2-0. The Screaming Eagles go to 0-1-0 after their first match while the Bruins go to 1-0-0.
 
After a strong first 20 minutes from USI, Belmont took the lead with a goal from Liam O’Brien at the 24:20 mark who put it top right bins. O’Brien struck again in the second half with another top right bins goal at 59:27. Assists for the Bruins came from Michael Saunders and Case Cox.
 
The Eagles finished the game with five shots and three shots on goal. Freshman midfielder Will Kirchhofer (Fishers, Indiana) lead the team with two shots and had one shot on goal. Freshman midfielder Enilson Voiles (Plainfield, Indiana) and sophomore midfielder Elmer Garcia (Indianapolis, Indiana) had the other two shots on goal for USI.
 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer opened their 2022 regular season home schedule Thursday with a 4-0 win against the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin’ Engineers. Freshman midfielder Peyton Murphy (Bargersville, Indiana) led the Screaming Eagles with her first career hat trick.
 
The Screaming Eagles were aggressive and attacked early in the match. Junior forward Morgan Beyer (Rossford, Ohio) took the first shot of the match in the seventh minute. On a couple of occasions, USI sent good crosses into the box that connected, but the headers were hit wide of goal.
 
In the 26^th minute, Murphy struck for her second goal of the season and put the Eagles ahead, 1-0. The shot came after an assisted cross by Beyer and a stutter fake by Murphy near the penalty spot.
 
Southern Indiana led 1-0 at halftime and held Rose-Hulman without a shot in the first 45 minutes. Senior midfielder Jill DiTusa (St. Charles, Illinois) made her 2022 season debut, subbing into the match in the first half. She made her presence known quickly with three shots and two on goal in the first half.
 
Four minutes into the second half, Murphy picked up her second goal of the match on assists from DiTusa and senior defender Alyssa Wright (Sellersburg, Indiana). Murphy continued to have a nose for goal, achieving her hat trick in the 53^rd minute on a short cross assist by Beyer, her second of the match, toward the top of the six-yard box.
 
A minute later, junior midfielder Avery Schone (Galena, Ohio) joined Murphy in the scoring column for USI on a shot in the middle of the box. DiTusa earned her second assist of the match on the play.
 
Midway through the second half, USI was able to make substitutions to get early-season experience for their bench, contributing solid minutes for the Screaming Eagles.
 
Southern Indiana finished with 24 shots, placing 16 on frame to go along with five assists. Rose-Hulman managed to get four shots and put two on target.
 
USI’s two goal-scorers, Murphy and Avery Schone, each had four shots with three on goal. DiTusa took six shots with five on goal to go along with her two assists. Senior goalkeeper Maya Etienne (Midland, Michigan) made two saves on the way toward her 31^st career shutout.

The Screaming Eagles will carry their two-match winning streak on the road Sunday with a 1 p.m. match against the Northern Illinois Huskies from DeKalb, Illinois. Live video coverage will be available on NIU All-Access with a paid subscription.
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