EVANSVILLE – In a pair of close contests, the University of Evansville baseball team dropped a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon to Dayton, 4-2 and 5-4, on Sunday in German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
“Losing two close games is tough early in the season. We need to learn how to win with quality outs out of the bullpen and an offensive approach late in games to win,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “You have to credit Dayton’s pitching staff because they did a great job against our plan at the plate.”
Game One: Dayton 4, Evansville 2
Both starting pitchers opened the day on a roll as the Aces Nick Smith and Dayton’s Ryan Steinhauer faced the minimum through three innings. The Flyers got on the board first in the fourth, recording a pair of runs on three hits before Smith shutdown the Flyer threat. In the bottom half of the fourth, Evansville responded, scoring a run on RBI base hit up the middle from Simon Scherry that scored Brent Widder. Scherry would work his way to second with just one out, but the Aces went down on back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
In the sixth, Smith was relieved, finishing his outing with five innings of work, allowing two runs on four hits, while striking-out four. Coming in to pitch for the Aces was Nate Hardman, who was difficult for the Flyers to hit. The seventh inning saw the Aces tie the game on an RBI single from Eric Roberts that pushed home Tanner Craig. Evansville looked poised to add additional runs, but Roberts was thrown out at home and another strikeout ended the inning.
With the game headed to the ninth, Dayton took advantage of their last chance, scoring twice in the top half of the inning and shutting the door on the Aces in the bottom half as the Flyers captured the 4-2 win.
Game Two: Dayton 5, Evansville 4
It was Evansville who jumped on the Flyers first in the bottom of the first of game two. The Aces loaded the bases with just one out and scored Roberts and Evan Berkey on a single to left from Brendan Hord that ended the day for Dayton starter Parker Bard after just a third of an inning of work. Poised to add more, Evansville’s threat was ended with back-to-back outs from reliever Anthony Hattrup.
Dayton scratched back a run in the top of the second to narrow its deficit to one at 2-1, but overall, Aces starter Shane Harris worked well through the first few innings. In the fourth, Dayton jumped on top, doing so by way of a two-run homer to right from Alex Neff. The Flyers pushed their lead to 4-2 an inning later with an RBI sac bunt.
Harris’ day came to an end in the sixth having gone 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, striking-out six. The Flyers would add their final run in the seventh, but the Aces built a comeback bid in the eighth and ninth. Trailing by three runs, Chase Hug scored on an error in the eighth, getting within a pair of runs at 5-3. With the game on the line, Evansville generated some offense, sparked by Tanner Craig’s ability to reach base on a strikeout as the leadoff batter in the inning due to an errant throw from the Flyer catcher. Back-to-back outs put the Aces in a tough spot, but Mark Shallenberger delivered a needed RBI on a blooper into center that scored Craig and put the Aces just a run back. Down to their final out, Flyers’ reliever Jake Silverstein got a strikeout, earning the 5-4 win for Dayton.
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