Aces have won four of their last five games

A 5-run third inning spearheaded a 7-1 victory for the University of Evansville softball team over Loyola to clinch the series on Saturday afternoon.

“We talked a lot yesterday after the second game about our offensive game plan with an emphasis of sticking with it and executing,” Purple Aces head coach Mat Mundell explained.  “We came out and did it today.  I was really proud of our approach at the plate.  Any time you can take a road series, it is big.”

Evansville has now won four out of five games after an 0-3 start to Missouri Valley Conference play.  The Aces sit at 11-19 and 4-4 in the league going into a Thursday road tilt at Butler and a weekend home series versus Missouri State.

In the first inning, the Aces got on the board when a Lindsay Renneisen single plated Mea Adams.  After Loyola tied it up, the Aces turned the game around with a big third inning.

Five runs came home for UE, all with two outs.  Renneisen got it started with a single before coming home on a Morgan Florey double.  Next up was McKenzie Johnson, who delivered a 2-run home run.  Evansville added four more hits in the frame with Bailee Bostic, Bailee Porter, Adams and Brittany Hay all helping to put together the 5-run inning.

One more run scored late in the contest as the Aces clinched the 7-1 win.  Florey had another stellar day in the circle.  In another seven inning performance, Florey allowed just four hits.  She has won four games over the last two weekends of action.

University of Southern Indiana Softball sophomore pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) and junior hurler Courtney Atkisson (Bringhurst, Indiana) surrendered a combined two runs Saturday as the Screaming Eagles swept a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader from visiting Lewis University at the USI Softball Field.

Leonhardt went a combined 3-of-7 at the plate with a double and five RBIs as the Eagles earned a 6-1 win in game one and a 3-1 triumph in game two.

USI (17-14, 6-6 GLVC) returns to action Tuesday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Kentucky Wesleyan College in a Midwest Region doubleheader at the USI Softball Field.

Game 1: USI 6, Lewis 1 (Box Score)
Leonhardt went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs as the Eagles scored five unanswered runs to earn the 6-1 victory.

USI capitalized on a two-out walk to open up a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sophomore outfielder Allison Schubert (Nicholasville, Kentucky) followed the walk to junior outfielder Caitlyn Bradley (Forest, Indiana) by roping an RBI-double into the leftfield gap.

Lewis (15-17, 4-10 GLVC) answered with a tally in the top half of the fourth inning, but Leonhardt’s two-out single with the bases loaded sent two runners across the plate in the home half of the fourth to put USI up, 3-1.

Leonhardt added to the Eagles’ advantage in the sixth with a two-run double, while Bradley’s RBI-single in the next at-bat gave USI a comfortable five-run cushion.

In the circle, Leonhardt (8-7) picked up the win after giving up just one run off five hits in seven innings of work. She struck out seven batters while not issuing a walk for the second consecutive outing.

Game 2: USI 3, Lewis 1 (Box Score)
The Eagles used a three-run third inning and a strong pitching performance by Atkisson to pick up the 3-1 win in the nightcap.

USI recorded five of its six hits in the last half of the third frame, including three straight RBI-singles by Leonhardt, Bradley and Schubert, to take the 3-0 lead.

Lewis capitalized on a pair of errors to plate a run in the top of the fourth inning, but that was all the offense it could muster as Atkisson cruised to her sixth win of the year.

Atkisson (6-4) gave up just one unearned run off four hits in seven innings of work. She recorded one strikeout and did not issue a walk in the victory.

University of Southern Indiana Track & Field senior Bastian Grau (Höchstadt, Germany) set his second provisional time in as many weeks running in the 5000 meters at the Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State Friday evening.

After recording a provisional time at Vanderbilt last week in the 1500 meters, Grau completed the 5000-meter race in 14 minutes, 9.97 seconds. The time currently ranks as the top provisional time in Division II.  Grau finished 14^th overall in a field filled with NCAA Division I competition.

Also in the 5000 meters, sophomore Austin Nolan (Evansville, Indiana) finished 96^th in 14:53.72. In the 1500 meters, sophomore Javan Winders (Mansfield, Tennessee) placed 31^st, finishing in 3:54.55.

USI was also in action at the WashU Invitational in St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend, and will participate in the KWC Invitational April 6-7 in Owensboro, Kentucky.