While the scoreboard at Duffy Bass Field may have shown the University fo Evansville on the wrong end of an 11-4 decision to Illinois State, the Aces still left the diamond smiling with the knowledge they’d clinched a coveted top four spot in next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Normal, Illinois.

After falling behind 1-0 after the opening frame, the UE bats erased the deficit and then some in the top of the second inning. Junior center fielder Troy Beilsmith continued his torrid late season push at the plate, sending an RBI single to center, plating senior left fielder Matthew Jones for the equalizer, Next, senior third baseman Sam Troyerlaid down a picture perfect but single to second, bringing in freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom, giving the Aces the lead. Senior right fielder Nate Reeder capped the three-run uprising with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring freshman designated hitter Eric Roberts for an insurance tally, making it 3-1 Evansville.

Senior left-hand starting pitcher Alex Weigand would come back to toss a perfect bottom of the second, but in the third, the Redbirds would get one back on a Joe Aeilts RBI single, cutting the UE lead to one.

However, Eric Roberts would get it back with one swing of the bat, drilling his first collegiate home run. The solo homer to left would bump the Aces lead up to 4-2.

From there, it was all Illinois State, as not even a one hour and 13 minute rain delay would cool them off, striking for nine unanswered runs against Alex Weigand and the Aces bullpen the rest of the way.

The loss dropped Evansville’s final regular season record to 24-27 and 11-10 in Missouri Valley Conference, while Illinois State finishes the regular season with an overall record of 14-7, good enough for a share of the MVC regular season title with Dallas Baptist, though they will be the second seed in next week’s tournament.

As for the Aces, they finished the regular season tied for fourth place with Bradley. However, due to Evansville’s sweep of the Braves during the regular season, UE gets the fourth and final spot in the new-look tournament bracket, while Bradley will be the fifth seed and play in the single elimination game Tuesday. Evansville will square off against in-state rival Indiana State, the third seed in the tournament, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Duffy Bass Field.

The Missouri Valley Conference announced it’s newest Scholar Athletes of the Week, and University of Evansville junior outfielder Kenton Crews as been bestowed this week’s honor.

Despite having his 2019 campaign short-circuited by injuries, Crews has persevered in the classroom, posting a 3.43 GPA in communications. This season, Crews played in 11 games for the Aces this season, hitting .225 with three doubles and four RBI before receiving a medical redshirt. A year ago, Crews led the team with 62 hits and 29 RBI, hitting .310 with 12 stolen bases.

Crews is active around the community. Crews spends time in the community helping Habitat for Humanity as he and his teammates helped prepare pieces for Habitat for Humanity’s Barn Blitz. In his other service efforts, Crews has volunteered his time with Holly’s House, a local child and adult victim advocacy center, and Just Read.

Crews is a member of the University of Evansville production crew for The Valley on ESPN. Working games as a color commentator and sideline reporter for men’s and women’s basketball, Crews has excelled and earned himself further opportunities as a member of Evansville’s The Valley on ESPN productions.

With Hunter Cullen on third and an intentional walk to Ryan Long, Mitchell Hansen ripped an RBI single through the hole at second base, as the Otters won in walk-off fashion Friday night by a score of 4-3 against the Florence Freedom.

Cullen led off the bottom ninth with an infield bloop single in front of Florence shortstop Austin Wobrock, using his speed down the first base line to beat the throw to first.

David Cronin laid a sacrifice bunt to move Cullen over to second with one out. Keith Grieshaber advanced Cullen to third on a deep fly ball to centerfield, making it two outs in the inning.

After Long’s walk, Hansen, who was 0-4 with three strikeouts heading into the ninth, swung at the first pitch he saw over the plate, scoring Cullen, and was mobbed by his teammates shortly after.

The game did not start too well for the Otters, as the Freedom jumped on Otters starter Patrick McGuff early, scoring three runs after two.

Cullen got the Otters on the board with a solo home run deep to right field to make the score

3-1 Freedom in the third.

McGuff was smooth sailing from that point on, throwing five of his 10 strikeouts, exiting the game in the seventh.

Down 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Taylor Lane smacked a lead-off double to centerfield. Rob Calabrese worked a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Cullen laid a sacrifice bunt to move Lane to third.

A sac-fly by Cronin scored Lane, making the score 3-2.

Grieshaber, who was leading the Frontier League in batting average and hits coming into the game and 0-3 from the plate going into the seventh, crushed an RBI single to score Calabrese from second to tie the game at three.

Grieshaber’s hit would take out Florence starter Scott Sebald, who went 6.2 innings, with seven strikeouts, four walks, giving up three runs on four hits.

Otters reliever Danny Hrbek pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, with a strikeout, three flyouts and two groundouts.

The Otters and Freedom will continue their series from Bosse Field Saturday at 6:35 p.m.

The game can be heard on 91.5 FM WUEV and viewed on the Otters Digital Network via YouTube.com with David Nguyen (play-by-play) and Bill McKeon (analyst) on the call. Game updates can also be found on the Evansville Otters’ Facebook and Twitter pages as well as Pointstreak.com.

The Otters are having many promotions in honor of celebrating their 25^th anniversary season in 2019.

Saturday’s game will be Military Appreciation Night, Boy Scout Night, and the Old National Bank Attendance Awards ceremony, and sponsored by Brentwood Springs, YMCA, and the Buffalo Trace Council. Sunday’s series finale will be Bark in the Park presented by It Takes A Village. Fans can purchase their tickets now.