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.

Aces finish weekend with 3-1 record

 HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Minutes after Southern Miss tied the score at 1-1, Bella Coffey hit a 2-run double to help the University of Evansville softball team finish the Hub City Challenge with a 3-1 win over Southern Miss.

Evansville’s win caps off another strong weekend that saw the Purple Aces go 3-1 while improving to 9-5 on the season with three of those losses coming to opponents ranked in the top eight in the nation.

Izzy Vetter was the story through the first five innings on Sunday.  The senior allowed just one Southern Miss hit in the opening five frames while the offense gave her a 1-0 lead in the third.  UE threatened in the first inning when a 1-out single by Jessica Fehr was followed by a double from Marah Wood.  Fehr rounded third before an excellent throw got the out at home.

Two innings later, Fehr continued to swing the hot bat, reaching on a 2-out double.  Wood followed with her second double of the contest and Fehr crossed the plate for the first run of the game.  The score remained 1-0 in favor of UE until the sixth when the Golden Eagles knotted the score at 1-1, picking up three of their four hits on the day.

In the seventh, the Aces offense wasted little time in working to retake the lead.  Hannah Hood led off with a walk and Alexa Davis followed with a single.  The duo advanced to second and third on the play and gave Bella Coffey a big opportunity.  Coffey delivered, doubling down the right field line to put Evansville on top at 3-1.  Vetter was solid in the seventh, allowing one walk before recording the final two outs to clinch the win.  She picked up win #7 of the season.

Fehr and Wood accounted for four of UE’s eight hits in the game.  Fehr, Hood and Davis scored the three Aces runs.

Home action opens next weekend with the UE Softball Invitational.  Running Friday through Sunday, the Aces are set to face Oakland, Green Bay, Morehead State, Creighton and Bowling Green.

OWENSBORO, Ky.—University of Southern Indiana Softball dropped both games on the second and final day of the Blue Bridge Battle. The Screaming Eagles fell to Northwood University, 5-4, in the opener before falling to Ashland University, 10-3, in their second game.

Northwood 5, USI 4
Freshman pitcher Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) drove in two runs in the top of the second inning and senior designated player Katie Back(Indianapolis, Indiana) had a two-run single in the sixth inning, but Northwood answered the Eagles scores each time.

The Timberwolves (3-2) tagged USI for four runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 4-2 lead and answered USI’s two-run sixth frame with a with a go-ahead run in the last half of the sixth.

USI (10-6) had runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh, but a strikeout closed the door on USI’s comeback attempt.

Senior pitcher Maddie Duncan (Lynnville, Indiana) took the loss for the Eagles after coming on in relief during the second inning. Duncan (1-2) gave up just one run off four hits in 4 1/3 innings of work.

Ashland 10, USI 3
USI and Ashland traded runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings, but a four-run third inning and a three-run seventh inning was too much for the Screaming Eagles to overcome in a 10-3 setback.

Junior catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) paced the Eagles at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a home run, RBI and two runs scored. Gotshall also had a strong presence at the plate, going 1-for-2 with an RBI-triple, while senior third baseman Mary Bean (Schaumburg, Illinois) had an sacrifice fly to drive in USI’s second run of the game.

Freshman pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) was charged with the loss after giving up five runs, three earned, off five hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. Newman (2-3) had four strikeouts and three walks.

MATTOON, Ill. – The VU Lady Trailblazers began their postseason run Sunday night and advanced to the Midwest District Semi-Finals Tuesday night after defeating Kaskaskia College 79-75.

Vincennes got off to a slow start offensively against the Blue Angels, quickly falling behind by 11 points early in the first quarter.

The Lady Blazers would battle back and cut the deficit to five points at the end of the first period, trailing 22-17.

VU grabbed the lead early in the second quarter at 23-22, but this would definitely not be the last time the lead changed hands.

The lead flipped back-and-forth for the rest of the first half, with Vincennes holding a narrow two point lead heading into the break. Leading 41-39.

Neither team was able to control the momentum of the game in the third quarter either, with the largest lead for either team being two points throughout the quarter.

The final Midwest District Quarterfinal game of the day was tied at 61-61 heading into the final quarter of play.

VU took the momentum in the fourth quarter, grabbing a two possession lead four time in the final period of play.

Vincennes took the lead back with just under four and a half minutes to play and held on to the advantage at the free throw line as the Lady Blazers closed out a 79-75 win over Kaskaskia to advance to Tuesday’s District Semi-Finals.

“We were a little bit up and down tonight,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. “Our defense was a little spotty. We could have been better defensively. We had a couple of kids tonight that just didn’t play up to par. At the end of the game, I told my Assistant Clyde Buck, ‘we need to get this lead up to four points and make it a two possession game,’ and we did and fortunately for us, Kaskaskia didn’t score again.”

“I think Kaskaskia got a little rattled and rushed a few shots and we took advantage of that,” Meeks added. “They are a good basketball team. Kaskaskia has gotten better as the season has gone along and they have some good athletes on that team. They are going to be something to deal with next year.”

VU was led offensively by freshman DayLynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) who came on strong in the second half, ending her night with 18 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists.

Sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) finished the night with 16 points, while putting together a complete, all-around game with six rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Freshman Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) hit a pair of three’s in the first half on her way to a 14-point night.

Freshman Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.) came off the bench to score in double figures, ending with 13 points and four rebounds.

Sophomore Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.) came off the bench helped control the boards, ending her night with six points, a team-high eight rebounds and a pair of steals.