1. CARMEL, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball team hit the field for the first time in a full week Friday afternoon, heading down to nearby Wabash Valley College for a single nine-inning game.

The Blazers found themselves in another close ballgame with a tough NJCAA Division I program and unfortunately came out on the wrong end of a 2-0 final score.

The VU offense was held in check by some really good pitching by the Warriors, with VU getting their first base runner in the third on a walk by sophomore Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.).

Wabash Valley would break the scoreless tie in the bottom of the 3rd before VU got into the hit column for the first time in the top of the fourth after a walk by sophomore Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and a single by sophomore Blake Heyerly (Monroe, Ind.).

The Warriors would add to their lead in the sixth, which VU again responded back with some action on the bases in the seventh after a leadoff single by Blake Heyerly, his second hit of the game.

Heyerly was followed by a four-pitch walk by sophomore Brandon Juarez (Evansville, Ind.) and sophomore Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) reaching on a bunt fielder’s choice.

Vincennes got another runner on in the eighth after freshman Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.) reached on a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a balk, but was unable to come around to score.

The Trailblazers were held off the scoreboard as the Warriors pitching staff closed out the 2-0 victory.

“Tough way to get going again,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “Ran out against probably the best pitcher we’ve seen all year, who is going to South Carolina next year. He did his job and we obviously struggled against him.”

“But we ran nine guys out on the mound,” Barney added. “We had a plan to keep everybody fresh for the upcoming Conference series at Heartland Monday and Tuesday. So we ran nine guys out there trying to get them ready and back on the dirt and all nine of them did a great job. We had one mistake with a pickoff play at third base or we would have been out of that inning. But those guys came in and threw strikes and battled. They had command and had a feel for where they wanted to throw the baseball. So you tip your hat and that’s the thing that we take out of this.”

“We’ve got to do a better job in the couple of innings when we had opportunities to score,” Barney said. “Somebody has to step up with a big hit and we’ve just got to continue to work on that.”

VU looked to get some arms back in action on the mound and opted to throw nine different pitchers during Friday’s game.

Sophomore Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start on the mound and was able to get through the first inning allowing one hit and striking out one.

The Trailblazers got a clean second inning out of freshman Alex Wandersee (Centerville, Ind.), including a strikeout, before turning it over to sophomore Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) in the third.

Lines would get through the inning after allowing two hits and one unearned run while also picking up a strikeout.

Freshman Colton Okes (Evansville, Ind.) was able to work himself out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth before freshman JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) took over in the fifth and struck out a pair.

MARTIN, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Softball opened a three-game road series at the University of Tennessee at Martin on Friday with a 2-0 shutout victory behind the arm of junior starting pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana), who matched a career mark of 17 strikeouts against the Skyhawks.
 
With the victory, Southern Indiana improved to 15-13 overall and 9-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. With first-place Eastern Illinois University not in action on Friday, the Screaming Eagles head into Saturday’s slate of games within a half-game of the Panthers. UT Martin moved to 20-16 this season and 6-7 within the OVC.
 
Both starting pitchers were dialed in early, shutting down the offenses. Southern Indiana’s Newman and UT Martin senior pitcher Brooklyn Linneman matched each other in the circle in the early innings.
 
Southern Indiana got a runner into scoring position in the second inning after a pair of walks, but Linneman held the Screaming Eagles in check the rest of the inning.
 
Both teams were held hitless through four innings. USI recorded the game’s first hit in the fifth inning off the bat of freshman infielder Alyssa Mumaw (Greenfield, Indiana). The Skyhawks also tallied their first hit in the bottom half of the fifth.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, the Screaming Eagles’ offense broke through on the scoreboard. Senior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) drove in the first run of the game on an RBI double. Senior catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) followed and made it a 2-0 lead for USI with an RBI single.
 
Newman continued to deal, striking out the side in innings four through six. It was only suiting that the right-hander finished the shutout win with a strikeout in the seventh inning.
 
For Newman, the 17 strikeouts matched her career high from March 2022 in an outing against Drury University. The 17 strikeouts were also the most that the UT Martin Softball program has ever incurred. The dominant start led to Newman’s 13^th win of the season. The Skyhawks could only muster three hits and one walk off Newman on Friday.
 
As a reclassifying program to NCAA Division I, USI does not qualify for the official NCAA statistical rankings, but Newman would rank second in the nation with 152 total strikeouts this season through Friday’s action.
 
At the plate, USI plated its two runs with five hits from five different Screaming Eagles.
 
Newman’s starting opposition, Linneman from UT Martin, dropped to 7-4 on the season with the loss. Linneman tossed the first six frames, allowing two runs with three strikeouts.
 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball scored six runs in the first two frames to Lindenwood University, 9-4, Friday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI is 14-16 overall and 4-3 OVC, while Lindenwood goes to 8-21, 2-5 OVC.
 
The Screaming Eagles erased a 1-0 first inning deficit with two runs in the first and four in the second to build a 6-1 lead. USI loaded the bases before senior designated hitter Jack Ellis (Jeffersonville, Indiana) walked to force in USI’s first run to tie the game, 1-1.
 
USI junior catcher Logan Mock (Livermore, California) gave the Eagles the lead, 2-1, with a sacrifice fly to end the first.
 
The USI rally continued into the second when the Eagles plated four more runs. The first two runs scored on double to right by senior first baseman Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas). Following a base hit by Ellis, Ebest and Ellis came across the plate when Mock reached on a pair of Lindenwood errors.
 
After Lindenwood closed the gap to 6-3 with a pair of runs in the sixth, USI got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the frame. Junior centerfielder Terrick Thompson-Allen (Sioux City, Iowa) scored the Eagles’ seventh run of the game and a four-run lead on a RBI-single by junior leftfielder Adam Euler (Evansville, Indiana).
 
USI would seal the victory with two runs in the eighth inning after Lindenwood cut the margin to three in the top half of the inning. Thompson-Allen made the score 8-4 with a bases loaded RBI-single, while Ebest finished the scoring by dashing home on a wild pitch for the 9-4 victory.
 
On the mound, freshman right-hander Grant Parson (Owensboro, Kentucky) was outstanding on the mound to earn the victory. Parson (3-0), who set down 17-straight batters after allowing a first inning run, allowed the one run on four hits and two walks, in addition to striking out six in seven innings.
 
Freshman right-hander Clayton Weisheit (Ferdinand, Indiana) got the Eagles out of an eighth inning jam and earned his second save of the year after throwing a scoreless ninth.

Evansville, In.:  In an extremely back-and-forth game, the Thunderbolts had the final push of momentum but could not complete the comeback in a 5-3 loss to the Bulls on Friday night at Ford Center.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, April 6^th against the Birmingham Bulls, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

Birmingham opened the scoring with goals from Matt Wiesner at 2:54 and Scott Donahue at 8:18 to put the Bulls ahead 2-0 early.  In response, Grant Spence scored for Evansville at 13:15 from Nick Prestia to shorten the deficit to one goal, before Matthew Hobbs tied the game on a reviewed goal just over a minute later at 14:24, assisted by Myles Abbate.  The Bulls answered back in the second period, with CJ Walker scoring at 9:11 to make it 3-2 Birmingham, before Evansville ended up in penalty trouble late in the second period with a 7-minute power play awarded to the Bulls at 14:47.  On the ensuing power play, MacGregor Sinclair scored at 16:53 and Troy MacTavish at 19:48 to put the Bulls comfortably ahead 5-2.  The Thunderbolts put up a strong fight down the stretch of the third period, as Abbate scored at 16:47 from Hobbs and Lincoln Hatten to shorten the deficit to 5-3.  In the next two minutes with Cole Ceci pulled, the Thunderbolts had three excellent scoring chances, with one hitting the post, however the Thunderbolts could not bridge the gap any further.

Hobbs and Abbate each scored one goal and one assist, while Spence finished with one goal.  In goal, Ceci finished with 26 saves on 31 shots.  The Thunderbolts and Bulls meet again for the final time this regular season on Saturday, April 6^th at Ford Center with the season series tied at 3-3.  These two teams will then meet in the first round of the President’s Cup Playoffs, Game One at Birmingham on Wednesday, April 10^th, Game Two at Ford Center on Thursday, April 11^th, and Game Three (if necessary) at Birmingham on Saturday, April 13^th.