EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana lost a doubleheader to Lewis University Sunday afternoon at the USI Baseball Field. USI lost the opening game, 15-3, and the nightcap, 8-5, as Lewis completed a four-game sweep.
 
The Screaming Eagles go to 15-25 overall and 4-12 in the GLVC, while the Flyers are 15-20-1, 10-10 GLVC.   
 
Game One:
USI was stymied by Lewis in the opening game Sunday, but avoided the shutout in falling 15-3. The Eagles managed the three runs on two hits, while the Flyers posted five runs in the second, third, and fifth to secure the victory.
 
The Eagles lone highlight came in the sixth when senior shortstop Ethan Hunter (Terre Haute, Indiana) tripled in a pair of runs and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior catcher Lucas McNew (Floyds Knobs, Indiana).
 
Game Two:
USI lost a three-run lead in the nightcap in failing to salvage a victory in an 8-5 loss.  
 
The Eagles opened the scoring in the second inning with pair of tallies to take a 2-0. Senior shortstop Ethan Hunter and junior rightfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan) gave USI the lead with back-to-back RBI singles.
 
Lewis bounced back to tie the score, 2-2, with a two-run rally of its own in the bottom of the third. The score would remain tied until the top of the seventh when the Eagles regained the lead.
 
USI began its run to take back the lead when Tachioka crossed the plate on a wild pitch for a 3-2 lead. The Eagles extended their advantage to three runs, 5-2, on RBI bases-loaded walks by junior designated hitter Sam Boese (McKinney, Texas) and sophomore second baseman Alex Archuleta (Evansville, Indiana).
 
The Flyers, however, did not let the three-run lead stand and used a six-run explosion to take their first lead of the contest, 8-5. Lewis would make that final offensive outburst stand up in finishing off the sweep.
 
Up Next for the Eagles:
USI continues its nine-game homestand Tuesday when it hosts Kentucky Wesleyan College for a rematch of the last week’s game in Owensboro, Kentucky. The USI-KWC match-up also is Tri-State Hot Stove League Night at the USI Baseball Field.
 
The Eagles lead the all-time series with Kentucky Wesleyan College, 100-67, despite dropping the first meeting last week to the Panthers, 4-1, in Owensboro, Kentucky. USI has won 13 of the last 17 meetings with KWC.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan is 17-24 overall in 2022 and is coming off a four-game series with Tiffin University, losing three of four.
 
USI finishes the homestand and the 2022 home schedule April 29-May 1 when it hosts Missouri University of Science & Technology for Alumni Weekend and Senior Day. The 2010 NCAA Division II national championship team will be recognized prior to the April 30 doubleheader. 
 
The Eagles have a 25-8 all-time series lead with Missouri S&T. The two teams have not met since 2019 when they split four games, while USI has won seven of the last nine since 2015.
 
The Miners are 17-19 overall and 5-11 in the GLVC after being swept by the University of Illinois Springfield at home this weekend. Missouri S&T travels to Pittsburg State University Wednesday before visiting USI next weekend.
 
 

UE ranks 8^th in team standings

 

PADUCAH, Ky. – Caleb Wassmer carded a 3-over 75 to pace the University of Evansville men’s golf team in Sunday’s opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship at the Country Club of Paducah.

Wassmer’s round has him in a tie for the 10^th position in the standings with two rounds remaining.  One behind him was Carson Parker.  His 4-over round of 76 put him in a tie for 15^th.

Third for the Purple Aces was Henry Kiel.  With a round of 80 strokes, Kiel is positioned in a tie for 28^th.  Isaac Rohleder and Dallas Koth carded rounds of 85 and are tied for 41^st.  As a team, Evansville is in the 8^th spot, but has plenty of time to move up as the team is just nine strokes out of a top four position.

Just in front of the Aces in 7^th is Illinois State, who stands at a 313 while Missouri State and Loyola, who rank in the 4^th and 5^th positions, are six and seven strokes in front of UE, respectively.  Three teams have put some distance on the rest of the pack at the top of the field with Southern Illinois leading the way.  A 295 has them three in front of Drake and five on top of third-place Valparaiso.

Matthis Besard of SIU and Silvester Tan from Drake are the individual leaders, each finishing Sunday’s round with a 1-under 71.

On Monday, the second round of 18 will take place before the tournament is completed on Tuesday.

MONTGOMERY, Ind. – Vincennes University sophomore Bryce Kirchner (North Vernon, Ind.) and freshman Paxton Schwomeyer (Oakland City, Ind.) finished in the top-three on the leaderboard at this weekend’s Vincennes University Spring Invitational at Country Oaks Golf Club in Montgomery.

Kirchner placed second with a first round 75 on Saturday and an 80 on Sunday. Schwomeyer finished two shots back in third after a 77 Saturday and an 80 on Sunday after battling the windy conditions all weekend.

“Bryce has been steady all year long for us,” VU Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. “He won the last tournament, really wanted to win this one obviously too. Both Bryce and Paxton caught a gust of wind on 13 today that put their ball out of bounds and both guys had two holes that basically ruined their rounds. Bryce played 16 holes at one-over and the other two holes today he had a triple and a quadruple bogey, which are not the types of things that Bryce Kirchner normally does.”

“But it’s the circumstances and the wind caught him and the same thing happened to Paxton on that hole as well,” Chattin added. “We moved the tees up today to let the guys have some fun today and see if some of the guys could drive some of the par fours like they do in the pro tournaments and sometimes greed maybe enters in too. Guys were trying to drive it to the green, which I didn’t have a problem with, but the wind caught that ball off an elevated tee and the wind had more control over that shot than they did.”

“Both Bryce and Paxton, I thought, played pretty well. They just happen to catch two bad breaks on two holes and that’s golf sometimes,” Chattin said.

The pair helped guide the Trailblazers to a tie with Danville Area CC for the top spot on the team leaderboard, but the Jaguars came away with the tiebreaker as VU places second as a team.

All nine VU golfers were in action over the weekend, with team A led by Kirchner and Schwomeyer, ahead of freshmen Luke VanDeventer (Columbus, Ind.), Sam Stewart (Floyds Knob, Ind.) and Adam Leach (North Vernon, Ind.).

Team B for Vincennes was freshmen Caleb Maris (Terre Haute, Ind.), Caleb Newman (Vincennes, Ind.) and Garrett Hulfachor (Lawrenceville, Ill.) with sophomore Jackson Roberts (Chesterton, Ind.).

Sam Stewart was the third lowest scorer on the Vincennes ‘A’ team, ending with an opening round 85 and a final round 83 good for a tie for 10th place.

Luke VanDeventer had a very consistent tournament, with an opening round 85 and second round 86 to place him in a tie for 14th.

Adam Leach rounded out the VU ‘A’ team scorers, ending with a first round 90 and a second round 92 to place him in 32nd.

The VU ‘B’ team was led by Caleb Maris, who put in a very solid performance this weekend, shooting an 84 on Saturday and an 88 on Sunday.

Jackson Roberts was the next lowest scorer with an opening round 92 and had the largest improvement of any VU golfer with a second round 87.

Caleb Newman finished right behind him with a first round 89 and a final round 91 and Garrett Hulfachor rounded out the tournament for the blue and gold with a first round 95 and a second round 92.

EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Junior shortstop Jordan Rager (Fishers, Indiana) went a combined 4-for-4 with a home run, two doubles, three runs scored and six RBI Sunday as No. 17 University of Southern Indiana Softball sent its 2022 senior class off with a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference victories over visiting Missouri University of Science & Technology in its regular-season home finale Sunday afternoon at the USI Softball Field.

The Screaming Eagles (36-10, 22-2 GLVC) won the opener, 10-2, in five innings before claiming a 6-0 win in the nightcap. Following the games, USI honored its seniors—pitcher/designated player Katie Back (Indianapolis, Indiana), third baseman Mary Bean (Schaumburg, Illinois), pitcher Elissa Brown (Brownsburg, Indiana), outfielder Mikaela Domico (Naperville, Illinois), pitcher Maddie Duncan (Lynnville, Indiana) and catcher Courtney Schoolcraft (Crest Hill, Illinois)—as part of its Senior Day festivities.

In the opener, the Eagles rallied from a 1-0 deficit with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning, four in the third, two in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

USI capitalized on an error to score its first run, while an RBI-single by junior second baseman Rachel Martinez (Chicago, Illinois) put USI up, 2-1. Rager had a two-run single  to get the scoring started in the third frame, while a bases loaded walk by Bean followed by a run-scoring wild pitch increased USI’s lead to 6-1.

Rager had a two-run double to extend USI’s lead to 8-1 in the fourth inning, while Schoolcraft’s at-bat in the fifth resulted in a pair of runs to end the game via the eight-run rule.

The Miners (21-25, 9-15 GLVC) took advantage of an error to score a run in the top of the first inning, while pair of fifth-inning hits led to Missouri S&T’s second run.

Junior pitcher Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) earned the win after giving up two runs, one earned, off five hits in 4 2/3 innings of work. Goodin (9-2) finished with a pair of strikeouts in the win.

In game two, the Eagles struck first on a solo home run by Rager in the home half of the second inning. The Eagles added three more tallies to that total in the third inning as Goodin, Rager and sophomore catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) all were credited with an RBI.

USI tacked on another run with the fourth on an RBI-single by sophomore first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana), while freshman pitcher Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) had a pinch-hit solo home run in the sixth frame to cap off the Eagles’ scoring.

Freshman pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) earned the complete-game shutout victory in the circle. Newman (13-3) struck out eight batters while scattering three hits and a walk throughout seven innings of work.

USI finishes the regular season next weekend when it travels to the St. Louis area for a pair of GLVC doubleheaders. The Eagles visit the University of Missouri-St. Louis April 30 at noon before traveling to St. Charles, Missouri, May 1 for a noon doubleheader with future Ohio Valley Conference foe Lindenwood University.

Weatherford wins 8^th game of freshman season

 PEORIA, Ill. – At the top of the lineup, Mackenzie McFeron and Alexa Davis combined for four hits, four RBI and two runs to push the University of Evansville softball team to a 6-3 series-clinching win over Bradley on Sunday at Petersen Hotels Field.

McFeron went 2-for-4 with two runs and a RBI while Davis was 2-4 with three runs batted in.  In the circle, Sydney Weatherford picked up the victory with another complete game performance.

Back-to-back doubles led the game off for the Purple Aces, who took a 1-0 lead.  After McFeron opened with a 2-base hit, Davis did the same to score McFeron and give UE a 1-0 edge.  The Braves took their first lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but UE quickly countered.

Alex Barnaby crossed home when Haley Woolf reached on a fielder’s choice in the second.  In the top of the third, a string of patient at-bats put the Aces back in front.  With two outs and the bases empty, Alyssa Barela, Barnaby and Hannah Hood walked to load the bases.  Hood came home on a Woolf single to give UE a 3-2 edge.

Bradley tied the game on a single in the fourth and the score remained tied until the top half of the sixth.  Haley Woolf opened with a walk and Bella Coffey was hit by a pitch to put set up a prime scoring opportunity.  With one out, a single by McFeron scored Woolf and would prove to be the game-winner.  Evansville added some insurance when Alexa Davis followed up with a 2-RBI double to extend the lead to 6-3.

Over the final two frames, Sydney Weatherford allowed just one hit and kept the Braves off the board as she earned win #8 of the season.  She gave up three runs, two earned, on nine hits.  Evansville tallied six hits in the game with McFeron and Davis registering two apiece.  Bradley had nine hits.

UE is back at Cooper Stadium for its final four home games of the season.  The week opens on Wednesday with a 5 p.m. game versus Indiana State.