After eight innings of struggle at the plate, the University of Evansville flexed its muscles at the plate, but it was too little, too late, as the Purple Aces fell to Dallas Baptist, 3-1, Friday night at Horner Ballpark in Dallas, Texas.

“We fought back to get the tying run at the plate, but couldn’t get the big hit,” said Head Coach Wes Carroll. “Proud of the fight and look forward to tomorrow.”

Freshman right hand pitcher Austin Ruesch got the start for the Aces, and after getting a double play early in the opening frame, got into serious trouble. A two out double, then a balk, put the icebreaking run 90 feet away. Then, Matt Duce sent a single to right, bringing in Jimmy Glowenke, making it 1-0 Patriots. Later in the inning, KodyFunderburk drilled a double to tally Duce, pushing the DBU lead to 2-0.

Ruesch would find more trouble in the second inning. Hill Alexander led off the frame with a single. A pair of wild pitches advanced Alexander to third. Then, a Devlin Granburg ground out to third brought in Alexander, giving the Patriots a 3-0 advantage.

Dallas Baptist would end Ruesch’s night in the third inning, loading up the bases with one out. Senior reliever Jimmy Ward came in and put out the fire with a pop up in foul territory and a fly out to center, keeping the game within reach at 3-0. Ward would go onto to pitch two more scoreless frames.

Another senior reliever, Hunter Porterfield, took over in the sixth, and would keep the Patriots off the scoreboard the rest of the way, striking out three across the final three frames.

“Our two seniors, Ward and Porterfield, did an outstanding job keeping us in the game”, said Carroll.

However, the UE bats couldn’t do much damage against DBU starting pitcher Trevor Conn, who struck out five, while allowing just two hits through eight innings of shutout work.

Still down 3-0 in the final frame, junior left fielder Troy Beilsmith would finally break through, launching the first pitch he saw from reliever MacGregor Hines over the wall in left for his team-leading sixth home run of the season, cutting the deficit to two runs. Two batters later, freshman first baseman Tanner Craig earned a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs. However, sophomore Kenton Crews struck out to end the game.

The loss drops the Aces to 8-31 overall and 1-12 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Dallas Baptist improved to 29-14 and 10-3 in the MVC.

The two teams are back in action tomorrow night back at Horner Ballpark, in a game that can be seen on ESPN U. First pitch is at 8 p.m. (CT).