Despite a furious finish, that saw the Aces strike for six runs in the final frame, the University of Evansville baseball team fell to Iowa 18-7, in a game played at Marion, Illinois’ Rent One Park, due to weather conditions.

“Tough way to start the series,” said University of Evansville baseball head coach Wes Carroll. “We showed some fight late, but had too big a hole to climb out of. We need to show some competitive fight to us tomorrow.”

The Hawkeyes got to Evansville starting pitcher Adam Lukas (1-2) beginning in the second inning, putting three runs on the board in the frame, which began with a two-run home run off the bat of Izaya Fullard.

Down 3-0 in the third, Lukas’ night would get rougher, as Iowa would touch him up for six more runs, highlighted by Ben Norman’s two-run blast. The Aces righty would get out of the inning, trailing 9-0 and his night would end there.

Evansville would get on the board in the bottom of the third, as junior shortstop Craig Shepherd would knock in senior third baseman Sam Troyer on an infield single.

However, the Hawkeyes kept swinging against the Aces’ bullpen, reeling off nine straight runs, taking an 18-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning.

That’s when the UE bats ignited. It began with an RBI single by Sam Troyer, driving in sophomore pinch hitter EvanAders. Senior outfielder Nate Reeder would follow that up with a run-scoring single to right, plating Troyer. A hot shot at shortstop by Craig Shepherd would lead to an error, allowing junior catcher Brendan Krob to tally. Freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom kept the rally rolling with an RBI single to right, scoring Reeder. Then, freshman first baseman Eric Roberts plates a pair with a two-run double to center. However, the rally would end there.

The loss drops the Aces to 5-6 on the season, while Iowa improves to 7-4.

UE opens trip to Tennessee with split

  After falling to Rutgers to open the day on Saturday, the University of Evansville softball team rebounded with a 7-4 win over Siena in the Buccaneer Classic at Betty Basler Field.

“I really liked the way we hit today.  In game one, we had runs on and just did not get the big hit, but in the second game, we did,” UE head coach Mat Mundell said.  “Even our outs against Siena were hard hit balls.  On the other side, our defense made some great plays all day.”

The Aces win over the Saints in the second game of the day saw UE muster up six hits with Eryn Gould accounting for two. Gould led the way with four runs batted in while she and Katie McLean scored two runs apiece.  Evansville wasted no time in getting on the board, scoring twice in the first.

McLean drew a walk to lead the inning off and would cross the plate on a Gould home run.  UE continued to hit well in the second, adding four more runs.  Jessica Fehr hit a leadoff walk before stealing second and moving to third on a Mea Adams sacrifice.  McLean walked for the second time in two innings before stealing second.  That brought Gould to the plate, who singled up the middle to score the pair.  Next up was Bailee Bostic, who homered to left field to score Gould and push the lead to 6-0.

A single run for the Saints would cross the plate in the third, but UE got it back in the bottom half of the fourth when a Lindsay Renneisen double scored Olivia Cheatham, who entered the game as a pinch runner.  Siena scored three times in the fourth off of UE starter Izzy Vetter, but Jaime Nurrenbern and Emily Lockhart combined to pitch 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to lead the Aces to the win.  Vetter picked up the win, improving to 3-1.

In the first game of the day, Rutgers finished with a 9-1 win in six innings.  The Scarlet Knights plated a run in the first before the Aces got it right back with a solo shot by Jessica Fehr in the second.  A 5-spot in the third saw the Scarlet Knights extend the lead back out before the finished with the 9-1 win.

UE had five hits in the contest with Mackenzie McFeron accounting for a pair.  Lockhart made the start, giving up six runs, only two of which were earned, in four innings.  Ashleigh Downing tossed the fifth frame.

On Sunday, the Aces open up with an 11 a.m. rematch against the Saints before facing the host East Tennessee State at 3 p.m.  Both times are eastern.