Game One: Evansville 7, Xavier 4 (7 Innings)
“Great day for Aces Baseball,” said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll on the sweep. “Game one we had three two-out RBI hits from Komonosky, Scherry and Crews. Roberts and Meyer did a great job out of the pen to secure the game one win.”
Xavier’s offense opened the scoring the first game, pushing two runs across in the second inning on an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly. Evansville answered in the third with a much-needed big offensive inning. Freshman Brent Widder singled to open the half inning, followed by a walk by redshirt junior Kenton Crews. Redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith laid down a picture-perfect bunt, beating the throw and loading the bases. Junior Tanner Criag then came to the plate and earned a walk, sending home Widder. Evansville tied the game in the next at bat as freshman Simon Scherry grounded into a double play, scoring Crews to tie the game at two.
Evansville was not done in the third as freshman Mark Shallenberger, junior Mason Brinkley, and senior Craig Shepherd each earned free bases by way of walk, a hit by pitch, and another walk, respectively, with Shepherd’s walk scoring Beilsmith to give the Aces a 3-2 lead. Still working with two outs, senior Ben Komonosky singled through the left side, scoring two and handing Evansville a 5-2 advantage.
After junior Eric Roberts came on in the fourth, Xavier scored a run on an RBI double to cut Evansville’s advantage to two. Evansville was consistent offensively in the fourth and fifth, adding single runs to move in front, 7-3.
Facing trouble in the fifth, Roberts responded getting out of the inning with three-straight outs. After getting out of the fifth, Roberts utilized the momentum in the sixth, sitting Xavier down in order.
In the top of the seventh, Xavier recorded back-to-back base-hits to lead off the inning with Evansville making a pitching change to freshman Jakob Meyer to close things out. After Meyer walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases, the Columbus, Indiana native locked-in. Meyer manufactured a groundout to earn the first out with Xavier scoring a run in the process. With Xavier bringing the tying run to the plate, Meyer struck-out the batter for the second out and induced a pop-up to second to end the game and earn the Aces a 7-4 win.
Game Two: Evansville 1, Xavier 0
For the second time in as many days, the Aces got an important defensive play at home plate. In the first, second baseman Brent Widder threw-out a runner at home, tagged-out by freshman Max Malley, ending the threat in the first for the Musketeers.
Evansville scored the only run it would need in the bottom of the third. With one out, Beilsmith reached on a throwing error, advancing to second on the play. A groundout from Tanner Craig advanced Beilsmith to third with one out. With Shallenberger at the plate, Xavier threw a wild pitch, scoring Beilsmith.
Xavier immediately looked to answer in the fourth, putting runners on first and second with no outs. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, but McMahill closed-out the inning with a pop-up and a groundout.
In the sixth, the Musketeers made another run at Evansville’s lead. A walk and base-hit again put runners on first and second with no outs. The key play of the second game unfolded in the third at-bat as Grant Stephenson flew-out to right with Beilsmith making a strong run to grab the rapidly dropping ball. Altenberger, who was at second, took off towards third and eventually home, believing the ball would be dropped and was tagged-out at second for not tagging-up.
The threat was not over for Xavier in the sixth as a walk ended McMahill’s day. In came sophomore Michael Parks, who ended the inning on his first pitch, forcing a fly-out to center.
Parks was spectacular, pitching a spotless 3.1 innings for the Aces, sitting the Musketeers down in order in the seventh, eighth, and ninth to earn Evansville the 1-0 shutout victory.
“Game two was a great performance from McMahill and Michael Parks,” remarked Carroll on the second game win. “To get a shutout in game two of a DH is rare but we clearly needed it. Really proud of how we responded to last night’s loss with energy and focus today.”
Evansville and Xavier return to the field on Sunday at 1 PM for the series finale at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
