With the regular season in the books, it is now time for the University of Evansville softball team to shift its focus to the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Softball Championship.

The Purple Aces enter the tournament as the #7 seed and begin their trek to a conference championship on Wednesday against #10 Valparaiso.  Game time is 6:30 p.m. at Peterson Hotels Field in Peoria, Ill.  With a win in Wednesday’s opening round, UE would advance to face Illinois State on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Evansville earned a 3-game sweep over the Crusaders in the final weekend of home play at Cooper Stadium.

For full information on the 2019 MVC Softball Championship, visit the championship page at: http://mvc-sports.com/sports/2018/6/18/19SBChamps.aspx

Following the relocation of an exhibition game originally scheduled to be played in Paducah, Ky., the Evansville Otters fell to the Southern Illinois Miners 6-1 Saturday night at Rent One Park.

The two clubs met for their second exhibition matchup in as many days.

Both offenses had opportunities with runners on base in the early innings, but both pitching staffs were able work around the base runners to keep the game scoreless.

Southern Illinois broke through first in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Miners strung together three straight hits, including RBI singles from Luke Bonfield and Steven Kraft to give the Miners a 2-0 lead.

The Otters were held in check in the run column through six innings by Miners starting pitcher Ryan McAuliffe.

A bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning made it 3-0 Miners, which was followed by Chris Iriart’s RBI single in the eighth to give the Miners a 4-0 advantage.

The Otters tallied a run in the top of the ninth but could not overcome the deficit as the Miners added a couple more insurance runs.

Evansville will return to Bosse Field the next couple days for Spring Training workouts before making a return trip to Rent One Park Tuesday morning for a 10 a.m. exhibition against Southern Illinois.

University of Southern Indiana Baseball rallied from behind twice and completed the sweep of Maryville University, 8-6, Saturday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI moves its record to 29-19 overall and 21-12 in the GLVC, while Maryville goes to 27-20, 22-11 GLVC

The victory puts USI in the six slot of the GLVC standings. The league’s post-season eight-team tournament bracket will be announced Tuesday after the three game-series between conference front-running University of Illinois Springfield and Bellarmine University Sunday and Monday. The GLVC Tournament is scheduled for May 9-12 in Ozark, Missouri.
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The Eagles got out in front in the bottom of the first before the Saints posted their first lead of the game with a three-spot in the top of the second. USI cut the deficit in the bottom of the second to 3-2 on a blast by senior first baseman Nathan Kuester (Rockport, Indiana), his seventh home run of the season, and regained the lead, 4-3, with pair of runs in the third.

Maryville tied the game in the sixth, 4-4, and re-took the lead, 6-4, with two in the seventh. USI bounced back to regain the lead, 7-6, with three runs on three hits and two walks in the bottom of the seventh, pulling back in front on a sacrifice fly by freshman catcher Lucas McNew (Floyds Knobs, Indiana).

USI sealed the 8-6 victory with a final run in the eighth on a RBI single by senior designated hitter Jayden Beshears (Evansville, Indiana).

For the game at the plate, Kuester led the USI hitters with three hits, including a home run; three runs; and a RBI. Beshears also had a team-high two RBIs.

USI senior left-hander Chase Partain (Evansville, Indiana) came out of the bullpen to win his fourth game of the season. Partain (4-5) threw three innings, allowing two unearned runs on two hits and a walk. He also struck out two.

Freshman right-hander Garrett Welch (New Castle, Indiana) started for USI and got the no-decision. Welch gave up four runs on four hits and two walks, in addition to striking out five batters.

Prior to tonight’s game, USI celebrated Senior Day by honoring the eight seniors – second baseman Jacob Fleming, right-handed pitcher Austin Gossmann; outfielder LaWan Rollins; right-handed pitcher Austin Krizan; right-handed Dalton Lewis; Beshears, Kuester, and Partain.

The University of Evansville baseball team had early scoring chances, but couldn’t cash in. However, Southern Illinois took advantage of nearly every scoring opportunity, as the Aces dropped a second straight to SIU Saturday evening, 5-2.

Junior left-hander Nathan Croner (5-6) got the start for UE, and started out strong, tossing a perfect opening frame. However, in the second, the Salukis would touch him up for a pair of runs in the second as Philip Archer singled in one run, then J.T. Weber brought in another on a sacrifice fly to center, putting the Aces down 2-0.

Evansville had a golden opportunity to knot the game up in the fourth, as a leadoff single by senior designated hitter Nate Reeder and a double off the bat of sophomore first baseman Tanner Craig put the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. However, the Aces would go down in order from there, keeping it 2-0 SIU.

In the bottom of the frame, Southern Illinois would add to their pad, hanging three more runs on the scoreboard at Croner’s expense, but the Independence, Missouri native would stick around to close out the inning, with the Salukis leading 5-0. Croner would come out to get the first out in the fifth inning, then turn the game over freshman right-hander Shane Gray. For the day, Croner gave up five runs on five hits, while striking out four.

Gray would keep SIU off the scoreboard the rest of the way, tossing 3 2/3 innings of shutout work, allowing just one hit, while striking out three.

Evansville would finally break through at the plate, with a pair in scoring position, as freshman pinch hitter Eric Roberts came off the bench to rope a single to right, driving in both Craig Shepherd and Tanner Craig, cutting the deficit to three.

However, that would be the only offense the Aces could muster, as they went quietly in the ninth.

The loss drops Evansville to 21-21 overall, with an 8-6 Missouri Valley Conference record. The win improves Southern Illinois’ overall mark to 21-22 and 3-11 in MVC play.