CARBONDALE, Ill. – Battling back time and time again, the University of Evansville baseball team came up just short in its MVC Championship opener in a 10-9 loss in 12 innings to Illinois State on Tuesday evening at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Ill.

“It was just a heartbreaking loss. Our seniors left it all out on the field,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. “The efforts we got from Troy Beilsmith, with some unbelievable at-bats, Ben Komonosky, caught just such a great game, Craig Shepherd, who’s fought through injury over the past month and he couldn’t get in there tonight, and then for Nathan Croner to go out there and make some competitive pitches deep, deep into that game. Our seniors really left it out on the field and our program is better today than when these seniors came in years ago. I couldn’t be more proud of them and just proud of our team and the effort we gave in a hard-fought extra-inning battle. No team wanted to lose that game and here we are in the middle of a competitive Missouri Valley Conference game where are backs are against the wall, we just put up such great effort and had multiple chances to close the door and couldn’t find a way to get the final two outs with the lead. This team is special to me. All year they’ve battled back and never gave up and it was a good step in the right direction for our program and I’m really proud of each and every one of them.”

A game that was closely contested from the first pitch, opened up with explosive offensive efforts from both sides. The Aces got rolling in the top of the first as sophomore Eric Roberts blasted a three-run home run to give Evansville the lead.

A back-and-forth contest saw the pendulum of momentum sway to Illinois State as the Redbirds tallied three runs in both the bottom of the first and second innings, taking over a 6-3 advantage.

As has been true all season, Evansville was resilient. The Aces pulled a run back in the third as Kenton Crews capitalized on an earlier Redbird error, driving-in Beilsmith with a double down the left field line.

Beilsmith scored another run in the fifth as Tanner Craig drove a single up the middle to cut Evansville’s deficit to just one. Later in the fifth, the Aces tied the game with an RBI single from Danny Borgstrom that rewarded Craig for his earlier RBI.

For the second time of the day and the first since the top of the first, Evansville took the lead as it was Borgstrom again who drove home a run with another RBI single, this one down the left field line as Roberts crossed home to put the Aces in front, 7-6.

Despite giving-up six runs early, Evansville starter Shane Gray settled in and recorded four-straight clean frames to keep the Aces in the game.

As was true all day, each Evansville run was answered by the Redbirds as Illinois State scored off an RBI single up the middle to tie the game at seven.

Evansville turned to reliever Jakob Meyer in the eighth with two outs and Meyer helped the Aces get out of a bit of a jam, inducing a groundout to end the threat.

As the game entered extra innings, the Aces took a lead following a marathon at-bat. Brent Widder worked a 13-pitch at-bat that would result in a base-hit. Widder took the 13th pitch and chopped it high into the air. As the ball floated in the air, Widder sprinted towards first as Malley headed home. The ball stayed in the air long enough to allow Widder to reach safely and Malley to score, giving UE an 8-7 lead.

With one out, Illinois State answered in the bottom of the 10th, scoring with a long drive to center that fell in.

Evansville nearly replicated the 10th inning in the 12th as Widder again came to the plate with Malley at third. Working much earlier in this at-bat, Widder bounced a ball to short that forced a difficult throw from the Redbird shortstop reaching safely and advancing to second as the throw went wide, again scoring Malley to take a 9-8 lead.

Meyer’s day came to an end prior to the bottom of the 12th after the closer dodged jam after jam, going a season-high 3.1 innings, allowing one run and recording four important strikeouts.

In the bottom of the 12th, the Aces brought veteran Nathan Croner to the mound. Croner quickly worked a leadoff strikeout to hand Illinois State an out to open the inning. The next batter, Ryan Cermak, tied the game with one swing, lifting a solo homer to left center to lock the game at nine again. After a pair of walks and a hit by pitch, Croner found himself in a difficult spot, working a 3-2 count to Jeremy Gaines. Croner’s pitch was connected with by Gaines, who sent it over the mound and up the middle, scoring Joe Butler and giving the Redbirds a walk-off win.

Evansville’s season concludes with a 28-27 record as the Aces earn their first winning season since 2016.