Aces Have Two Weeks To Prepare For MVC Championship

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sophomore Tyler Gray was the low shooter of the day for the University of Evansville men’s golf team as they took seventh place in the Big Blue Invitational at Hermitage Golf Club.

Gray recorded a 74 in the final round to come home in a tie for 22^nd place overall.  His final score was a 149.  Rick Voyvodic was the top finisher for the Purple Aces.  After carding a 73 on Monday, he came back with a 75 in round two.  He tied for 17^th with his final score of 148.

Tying for 31^st was Wil Pahud.  He notched a 77 in the final round to finish the tournament with a 151.  Following him was Will Knights.  The senior tied for 38^th on the charts with his score of 153.  His rounds finished at 75 and 78.  Austin Carmack had a great improvement in round two, improving by 15 strokes.  He recorded an 81 after his opening-round total of 96.

Individuals Noah Reese and Jon Pick finished in a tie for 73^rd.  Reese posted rounds of 81 and 83 while Pick had two rounds of 82.

Belmont hung on to take the team championship.  The Bruins defeated Murray State by one shot, finishing with a 580 to MSU’s 581.  Ashton Van Horne was the medalist.  After blazing the course with a 67 on Monday, he finished with a 71 on Tuesday to score a 138.  He defeated the Racers’ Jared Gosser by four strokes.

Evansville completes the season on April 25-26 at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.

OWENSBORO, Ky. – The University of Southern Indiana baseball team could not overcome an early deficit and lost to Kentucky Wesleyan College, 13-7, Tuesday afternoon in Owensboro, Kentucky. USI saw its record go to 19-13 overall, while KWC ends the day with a 21-10 mark.

The Screaming Eagles were down early as the Panthers built a 7-0 lead with three runs in the first and four more in the second inning. USI got its shot in the third inning, cutting the deficit to 7-4. Senior third baseman Trent Gunn (Tell City, Indiana) highlighted the four-run frame with a two-run double to left field.

The Panthers, however, responded with a tally in the bottom of the fourth, two more in the fifth, and one more in the sixth to build an 11-4 lead. The Eagles got one of the runs back in the top of the seventh when Gunn struck again, this time with an RBI-single up the middle to make the score 11-5.

After KWC bounced back to increase its lead to 13-5 in the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles continued to try and close the gap in the eighth. Sophomore designated hitter Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) and Gunn singled and walked in a run, respectively, before the rally stalled and USI left the bases loaded to end its half of the eighth.

USI would mount another challenge in the ninth, loading the bases with one out, before KWC escaped with the win when senior catcher Ryan Bertram (Zionsville, Indiana) hit into a game-ending double play.

The offensive leaders for USI in the loss was Gunn, who ended the game with four RBIs, and sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana), who was three-for-three with two runs scored and an RBI. Senior shortstop Kyle Niemeier (Evansville, Indiana) extended his team-best hitting streak to eight games with a pair of hits.

On the mound, junior right-hander Mike Ringer (Springfield, Illinois) took the loss in his first start of the year. Ringer (2-2) allowed four runs on three hits and two walks in one-plus innings of work. He was followed by five more Eagle hurlers, who allowed the final nine earned runs in the non-conference setback.

USI remains on the road and returns to GLVC action this weekend when it travels to McKendree University for a four-game series. The Eagles and Bearcats are slated to play noon doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.

 MURRAY, Ky. – University of Evansville head coach Wes Carroll has frequently expressed the importance of freshmen not pitching like freshmen this season, and for the third game in a row, that was certainly the case as Austin Allinger delivered in impressive fashion, leading the Purple Aces to a 2-1 victory over Murray State at Johnny Reagan Field.

Allinger, who moved to 4-2 on the mound this season, was locked into a pitching duel for much of the contest, and aside from giving up a run in the third, he was unflappable. The right-hander out of West Chester, Ohio, tossed a career-best eight innings on the night while setting a career high with seven strikeouts. He allowed just four hits.

“As a freshman pitching at the Division I level, for him to come out here and pitch the kind of game he did is going to be big for his confidence,” Carroll said. “He took command of the game, and he had a good mix of pitches going too. You can tell with these freshmen that they’re no longer freshmen. They’re making big leaps and bounds, and it’s huge for our program to be able to develop such quality arms early in their career.”

Allinger’s counterpart, Brad Boegel, was nearly as good in his time on the mound. A former weekend starter for the Racers last season, the senior struck out nine in six innings of work.

While Allinger may have been getting things done for UE on the mound, he received plenty of help from his battery mate in Boomer Synek. The senior catcher was excellent defensively, picking off a runner and catching another stealing, but his biggest moment of the game came in the top of the ninth with a two-out solo home run over the right field fence.

“I feel like I’m building more confidence with each inning,” Allinger said. “I knew that we’d eventually get the run we needed. I wasn’t worried about it, so I was just focused on trying to hang up goose eggs on the scoreboard each inning.”

A two-out rally from the Racers in the bottom of the third put the hosts ahead as a Cody Gilbert walk and back-to-back singles from Adam Bauer and Tyler Lawrence scratched across the game’s opening score.

From there, the Aces line-up was held relatively quiet as Boegel started to find his groove, but that would prove only temporary as Trey Hair hit a triple off the top of the right field fence to lead off the seventh inning, and Synek followed up with a sacrifice fly to bring things even.

Following Synek’s ninth-inning blast, Brent Jurceka stepped to the mound for UE, and he was overpowering, striking out the first two hitters before a single up the middle by MSU’s Caleb Hicks put the tying run on first base. The threat wouldn’t be there long though, as Jurceka turned and picked him off to bring the game to an end and pick up his fourth save of the season.

UE will be back in action this weekend as they return to Charles H. Braun Stadium for a three-game set with Missouri Valley foe Bradley.

NOTES: UE has hit 32 homers in 31 games this season, which is already the best single season total since 2010 … With 15 career saves, Jurceka is now tied for fifth all-time in UE history, equaling former Aces Matt Brinkmann and Sam Johns … Since 1978, UE is 29-10 against Murray State … Last season, the Aces won both meetings between the two teams, taking home a 15-2 decision in Evansville before grabbing an 11-10 victory Murray … The Aces are 113-86-2 against schools from the state of Kentucky, which includes a 3-2 mark this season … UE is also 6-2 versus opponents that hail from the Ohio Valley Conference this year.