Big home runs off the bats of Tanner Craig and Troy Beilsmith early led the University of Evansville to their first series victory since March of last season, outslugging Little Rock 10-5, Monday afternoon.

The Aces wasted little time jumping on Trojans pitching, as an error and freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom in top of the first set the table for sophomore first baseman Tanner Craig , who blasted his first home run of the season, giving UE an early 3-0 lead.

In the top of the second, the Aces onslaught continued as a one-out double by sophomore shortstop Craig Shepherd was followed by back to back walks, lading up the bases for junior outfielder Troy Beilsmith, who grooved his first round tripper of the year. The grand slam put Evansville in the driver’s seat, leading 7-0.

Senior right hand pitcher Justin Hayden made his first start since missing last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and after a scoreless opening frame, Little Rock would strike for a run in the second and the third. However, the Aces bats would respond in the fourth inning. The rally began with a Troy Beilsmith RBI single to left, scoring Craig Shepherd from second base. Danny Borgstrom would continue the torrid start to his collegiate career with an RBI single to right, tallying senior third baseman Sam Troyer from second. Freshman designated hitter A.J. Fritz capped the three-run rally with a sacrifice fly to right, bringing in Beilsmith, putting Evansville up 10-2.

The Trojans would tag Hayden for one more run before exiting in the fifth inning. For the day, Hayden went four frames, allowing three runs on four hits, striking out three batters, without giving up a walk. Senior southpaw Alex Weigand came in in relief and would give up one run in the fifth. Junior Jake McMahill will take over in the sixth, and was tagged for a single tally as well, as the UE lead got cut to 10-5.

However, that’s as close as the Trojans would get, as freshman right hand reliever Michael Parks would shut down Little Rock the rest of the way, allowing one hit and striking out a pair.

“Great effort from our guys this series to get the win,” said University of Evansville head coach Wes Carroll. “Justin Hayden has had a long road to recovery so to see him back on the hill competing was outstanding. He answered the call in this important rubber match. We played great defense and got a couple big blast offensively to get the series win.”

The victory moves the Aces record to 3-4, dropping Little Rock’s record to 1-6.

Evansville is back in action Friday as they take on Boston College in the first game of the EKU Challenge at Eastern Kentucky University.

The University of Evansville baseball team got a dominating performance from junior starting pitcher Adam Lukas and some early opportunistic offense, however Little Rock got the last laugh in rallying to a game one 7-5 victory in Little Rock, Arkansas, Sunday afternoon.

The Aces grabbed the early lead, as senior outfielder Nate Reeder reached on a one-out hit-by-pitch, then moved into scoring position on an error, then scored on freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom’s RBI single for the icebreaker.

Lukas would struggle in the bottom of the opening frame, walking in a run, knotting the game at one.

However, in the top of the second, the Evansville bats ignited. After Troy Beilsmith got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, freshman designated hitter A.J. Fritz sent a single to second, however an error allows Fritz to make it to second, allowing Beilsmith to tally the go-ahead run. A single by sophomore first baseman Tanner Craig would load up the bases, then a Kenton Crews sacrifice fly would bring in Fritz to make it 3-1 Aces. Senior third baseman Sam Troyer would follow that up by hustling out an infield single, scoring DannyBorgstrom, pushing the UE lead to 4-1. Junior shortstop Craig Shepherd would cap the rally with an RBI single to center, driving in Craig, giving Evansville a 5-1 advantage.

Lukas would recover from his shaky start, tossing four shutout innings, striking out seven in the process. The junior right-hander was one pitch away from getting out of sixth, when Troy Alexander tagged Lukas for a solo shot to right, ending his day, after tossing 120 pitches. Weigand (1-1) would get out of the frame without any more damage. However, in the seventh, the Trojans would whittle into the lead with another tally.

Little Rock would go onto load up the bases on Weigand with no one out in the bottom of the eighth, which would bring junior right-hander Jake McMahill in relief. Chase Coker would greet McMahill with a grand slam home run, giving the Trojans a lead they would not relinquish.

The loss dropped the Aces to 1-4 on the season, while the win gives Little Rock (1-4) their first of the season.

Aces Pick Up Big Win In weekend Final

 Eryn Gould notched two hits and scored twice while Emily Lockhart tossed another complete game to lead the University of Evansville softball team to a 4-2 win over Creighton on Sunday morning.

Evansville (6-6) picked up four hits on the day with Gould notching two.  Katie McLean and Mackenzie McFeron had the other two.  Lockhart went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out four.

The Purple Aces scored single runs in both the first and second inning.  Gould hit a leadoff double to begin the game and would score when Bailee Bostic reached on an error.  In the second, McFeron drew a 1-out walk before working her magic on the basepaths.  She stole second base before moving to third on a passed ball.  Gould reached on an error, allowing McFeron to add to the lead, making it a 2-0 game.

Creighton (5-7) picked up two runs to tie the game in the bottom of the third, but Evansville countered in the fifth.  McLean singled to lead off the frame before advancing to second on a Mea Adams sacrifice.  Another Bluejay error helped McLean give the lead back to the Aces.  In the seventh, UE added an insurance run when Gould came home on the fifth Creighton error of the day.

Lockhart was able to finish it off from there, picking up her third victory of the season.

Next weekend, the Aces head to Birmingham, Alabama for a tournament hosted by Samford.  The Aces will take on Western Kentucky, Houston Baptist, Jackson State and Samford in the tournament.