The University of Southern Indiana women’s tennis team defeated Kentucky Wesleyan College, 9-0, Wednesday evening at the USI Tennis Courts. In their first home match at the USI Tennis Courts this spring, the Screaming Eagles improved to 4-8 on the year in dual matches.

Starting with doubles play, the Eagles found wins in all three matches. A pair of sophomores in Jennifer Mizikar (Batavia, Illinois) and Haley Jones (Ft. Branch, Indiana) dominated at number 3 winning 8-0 over their Panther opponents. Senior Elizabeth Wilm (Evansville, Indiana) and junior Brenna Wu (Evansville, Indiana) also picked up a big win at number one doubles by a score of 8-0 to move the match into singles play.

Four Eagles defeated their opponents in in straight sets, highlighted by junior Kymberly Brannon(Louisville, Kentucky) making quick work of her opponent at number four to get the first singles win of the match. Jones then sealed a USI victory earning the fifth Eagle point in her 6-0, 6-0 win at number six. Sophomore Kelsey Shipman (Olney, Illinois) and Mizikar also took their matches in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, at numbers two and five singles.

The Eagles will continue their longest home stand of the season with their second of four straight home matches in the GLVC opener on Saturday, April 2.The Prairie Stars of the University of Illinois Springfield will take on USI at the USI Tennis Courts with an 11 a.m. start.

University of Southern Indiana
Kentucky Wesleyan vs Southern Indiana (Mar 23, 2016)

Southern Indiana 9, Kentucky Wesleyan 0
Mar 23, 2016 at Evansville, Indiana (USI Tennis Courts)

 After dropping a neutral site contest in Kokomo on Tuesday, the University of Evansville baseball team will be hoping to get back on track on Thursday as the team starts off a three-game series with Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Ky.

The Aces (9-10) will be looking to rebound from a 6-3 loss to Kent State on Tuesday, and the team will head to Richmond looking for a first road series victory this season.

While UE’s high-power line-up has been key in a number of the team’s nine victories this season, head coach Wes Carroll is hoping to see his weekend pitching rotation continue to improve, and the duo of Connor Strain and Patrick Schnieders will get starting nods this weekend after impressing in recent outings.

Schnieders, who will take the mound on Thursday, owns one of the more eye-opening starts over the past two seasons after he registered 10 strikeouts in the Aces’ shutout win over Central Connecticut earlier this month. He’s posted a 1-1 record over his first four starts of the year, and he’ll enter the series with a 2.66 earned run average over 23.2 innings of work. Strain, meanwhile, will be making just his fourth start of the season after overcoming an early injury, and the senior right-hander is also 1-1 on the year with a 1.35 ERA over 13.1 frames.

In the line-up, Trey Hair has been the gold standard for UE this season. The junior transfer out of Firth, Neb., is batting .410 with 10 doubles and three homers over the first 19 games of the season. Eric McKibban is second on the team with a .375 mark, and he leads the team in runs scored with 20. Boomer Synek rounds out the top three for the Aces with a .307 average and a team-best 21 runs batted in.

Overall, the Aces are hitting .286 this season, with 20 home runs, which is just one shy of the team’s season total from a year ago

EKU, on the other hand, is 10-11 this season and enters the weekend on the heels of three straight losses to Belmont and Marshall.

First pitch from Turkey Hughes Field on Thursday is slated for 4 p.m. Eastern.

Evansville finishes in 9^th place 

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Kayla Katterhenry had the low round of the day and vaulted up the leaderboard in the final day of the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate at Sevierville Golf Club.

Katterhenry fired off a 70 on Tuesday, four shots better than anyone in the field.  That effort launched her to a 4^th place finish with a 231.  After posting rounds of 80 and 81, Katterhenry dropped her score by ten strokes.  Madison Chaney had her best round of the event on Tuesday, posting an 81 to finish tied for 33^rd with a 250.  Chaney’s round on Tuesday was one under her 82 on Sunday.

Maggie Camp carded an 88 in the final round and tied for 36^th with a 251.  Giulia Mallmann finished the tournament with a score of 262 following her round of 89 while Maria Pickens notched a 91 and completed the tournament with 272 shots.

Individual Carly Waggoner recorded her lowest round of the tournament as her 86 gave her a final score of 269.  Rachel Marchi dropped her Monday round by seven strokes, posting a 95 to finish with a 286.

Evansville came home in 9^th place in the event.  Taking top honors was Southern Mississippi.  The Golden Eagles held off a furious charge by Tennessee Tech to win by five shots.  USM’s Valentina Haupt and Emily Dixon of Youngstown State finished the tournament tied atop the individual list.

The next action for the Purple Aces will be the Bradley Invitational. Set for April 2-3, the event will be held at Weaver Ridge Golf Club in Peoria, Ill.

KOKOMO, Ind. – Five early runs from Kent State on Tuesday night would prove all the Golden Flashes would need as the University of Evansville baseball team dropped a 6-3 decision in a neutral site contest at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.

“We just couldn’t get a big inning, and that’s been important for us this season,” UE head coach Wes Carroll said. “We hit into four double plays, and that was really the difference in the game. We created some opportunities, but we just couldn’t get the big hit to drive in the runs.”

Zach Beckner started things off quickly for the Golden Flashes (14-5) as he laced a one-out single to right in the bottom of the first, and Dylan Rosa followed up later in the frame with a two-run blast to center to put the Aces (9-10) down 2-0 after the first frame.

A Jonathan Ramon error would come back to haunt the Aces in the next frame as a two-out Luke Burch triple and Zarley Zalewski double brought home three more runs to make it 5-0.

Alex Weigand, who picked up his first loss on the year, was credited for all five runs but only two were earned. He would leave the mound in the fourth after surrendering six hits and striking out two.

UE got on the board for the first time with a Boomer Synek double in the fifth, and he’d bring another home with a fielder’s choice in his next at-bat in the seventh to cut the deficit to three.

Josh Jyawook drove in another in the eighth, but the Golden Flashes answered in the bottom half of the frame to maintain the three-run cushion.

Both Jyawook and Synek finished the day with two hits apiece, and overall, UE and KSU both ended with 10 hits.

The Aces will be back in action on Thursday evening as the team will begin a three-game set against Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Ky.

NOTES: UE is 2-3 in midweek games this season … Since 1978, the Aces are 52-26 against schools that hail from the state of Ohio … Tuesday marked the first-ever meeting between UE and KSU, and the game represented the fourth this season against a MAC opponent … Earlier this month, the Aces swept Northern Illinois.