The University of Southern Indiana baseball team never got the bats going and lost 2-0 to Oakland City University Wednesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI watched its record go to 9-12 in 2017, while Oakland City goes to 4-19.

The Screaming Eagles and the Mighty Oaks were scoreless through the first five innings before Oakland City scored the eventual game-winning run with a tally in the sixth. The Might Oaks would seal the 2-0 win the final tally in the top of the ninth.

USI’s bats were limited to two hits and were struck out 10 times by OCU right-hander Caleb Wagner. The Eagles put a runner on in the seventh and had rallies squashed in the second and fourth as they were unable to take advantage of five OCU errors.

On the mound, sophomore left-hander Chase Partain (Evansville, Indiana) took the loss in relief for the USI. Partain (0-2) allowed an unearned run on two hits and a walk, while striking out two in two innings of work.

USI junior right-hander Nick Gobert (Jasper, Indiana) was near perfect in his first start as an Eagle. Gobert allowed one hits and two walks in a scoreless four innings of work.

The Eagles return to Great Lakes Valley Conference action Saturday and Sunday when they visit the University of Illinois Springfield. First pitch is slated for noon each day. For up to date information and coverage of USI Baseball, visit GoUSIEagles.com

Aces trek to Iowa this weekend 

 A 10-game home stand will finish up on Wednesday as the University of Evansville softball team will play host to Kent State in a doubleheader at Cooper Stadium.  Game one is set for 3 p.m. with the second contest to follow.

Evansville stands at 4-2 in the MVC following the series against Bradley.  Morgan Florey batted .600 in the series with three RBIs and tossed 14 innings in the circle, posting a 1.50 ERA.  She grabbed UE’s win in the series opener on Saturday as she allowed just two hits in seven innings.  Brittany Hay had a team-high four runs batted in over the weekend and also drew three walks.  The Aces made it on base 40.6% of the time versus the Braves.

On Sunday, Chandra Parr hit the 29th home run of her Purple Aces career.  She is now just one from tying and two from breaking the program record, set by Krista Price.  She played at UE from 2007 until 2010.  She has batted .350 in conference play while posting a home run and four RBI.

Pitcher Morgan Florey went 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA in 14 innings of action against Bradley.  She also added 16 strikeouts and a pair of complete games.  In the opener versus the Braves, Florey threw a 2-hit shutout while walking just one batter and striking out 8 in a 7-0 win.  She has now thrown seven complete games in a row and has registered 127 strikeouts on the season.  In three games last week, Florey batted .600 for the Purple Aces while getting on base 66.7% of the time and slugging .700.

Brittany Hay hit .375 for the Purple Aces in their series against the Braves.  She registered a home run, four RBIs and scored four times.  Saturday’s opener saw her go 2-3 with two RBIs, a walk and steal.  Hay notched a home run in the second game of the doubleheader while scoring twice, batting in two runs and reaching via a walk.  Though she did not get a hit in the final game of the weekend, Hay scored twice and earned a walk.

A nice weekend of play saw Tess Hupe bat .375 versus Bradley.  Hupe recorded three hits in 8 at-bats while scoring four runs.

Kent State comes to town with a 10-15 mark and sit at 2-1 in Mid-American Conference play.  The Golden Flashes play #9 Alabama tonight (March 28) before heading to Evansville.  Bailey Brownfield leads the way for KSU with a .358 batting average while Maddy Grimm is next up at .314.  In the circle, Ronnie Ladines has notched a 2.14 ERA.

Aces finish in 12^th place

Maria Pickens and Kayla Katterhenry each fired off rounds under 80 as the University of Evansville women’s golf team earned a 12^th place finish at the Little Rock/ASU Invitational at Maumelle Country Club.

Katterhenry was the top finisher for the Purple Aces, earning a tie for 13^th with a final tally of 228.  She completed Tuesday’s final round with a 3-over 75.  Maria Pickens had her best round of the tournament, carding a 77 as she wrapped up the tournament with a 243.  She finished in 48^th place.

Next up was Maggie Camp.  The senior posted an 87 in the final 18 holes to place 69^th with a 256.  Madison Chaney and Giulia Mallmann rounded out the top five for the Aces.  Chaney notched a 93 on Tuesday to finish with a 259 while Mallmann’s last round was an 89.  Her tournament total was a 261.

Lexie Sollman matched her second-round total on Tuesday, posting an 80 on her way to a 248.  That put her in a tie for 58^th.  Carly Waggoner registered a 94 in the last trip around Maumelle Country Club and notched a 279 for the event.

Central Arkansas was the big winner in the tournament.  An 897 saw UCA take the team championship by 15 strokes over Little Rock.  UTEP and Toledo tied for third place with scores of 917.  Ye Ji Lim of Central Arkansas was the medalist.  Her final round tally of 77 saw her take the top spot with a 221, one stroke ahead of a second-place tie.

Evansville’s next tournament goes from April 9-10 in Terre Haute, Ind. as the Aces will take part in the Indiana State Invitational.