EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  The University of Evansville baseball team launched four home runs on Sunday, and produced a pair of five-run innings, as the Purple Aces completed a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series sweep of the visiting Illinois State Redbirds with a 13-1 run-rule victory at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

“What a game! What a weekend!  What a series for our ballclub!” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “It is really difficult to sweep in this conference, and I think that it really started on the mound today for us.  What Shane Harris, Jace Kressin and Max Hansmann did today was pretty impressive, as they shut down a really good offense.

“Offensively, I thought that, top to bottom in our order, our guys were able to produce some great at-bats today.  Harrison Taubert had the huge double to get us started in the third inning, and then obviously, his three-run home run was big, as it broke things open for us.  But, I thought almost every player in the lineup today had a great approach, and hopefully, we can keep that rolling down the stretch.”

Harris cruised through the first three innings for UE on the mound, allowing just a lone single while retiring nine of the 10 men he faced with three strikeouts.  Evansville would then give Harris (3-4) all of the run support he would need on the afternoon in the bottom of the third inning with two runs.

After a lead-off walk by senior shortstop Simon Scherry, junior outfielder Harrison Taubert roped a double to left field to put two men in scoring position with no one out.  Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger delivered a sacrifice fly to deep right field to plate the game’s first run, before senior outfielder Kip Fougerousse had an RBI single to left-center field to give UE a 2-0 lead.

Taubert would break things open for UE in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he ignited a five-run frame with a three-run home run to right-center field to grow the lead to 5-0.  Then, after a Shallenberger double and a ground out, graduate first baseman Chase Hug crushed a two-run home run to right field to take a 7-0 lead.

Fougerousse added an RBI single in the fifth inning to push the lead to 8-0.  The Redbirds would scratch across a run in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly, before UE exploded for five more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to enact the mercy rule.  Graduate third baseman Brent Widder and freshman second baseman Brodie Peart hit back-to-back home runs in the frame, while Fougerousse added another RBI single to help UE post its eighth victory in the last nine contests.

Fougerousse went a team-best 3-for-5 with three RBI, while Taubert, Peart, and Scherry all had two-hit games.  All nine members of the UE starting lineup had hits in the contest.  Harris earned the victory on the mound by tossing 5.0 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out four.

With the victory, Evansville moves into a tie for second place in the MVC standings with an 18-17 overall record and 7-5 MVC mark.  Illinois State, meanwhile, falls to 18-15 overall and 7-5 in the Valley with the loss.  Evansville will now hit the road for the next five games, beginning on Tuesday night at 5 p.m. central time as the Purple Aces will travel north to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Indiana Hoosiers.  Tuesday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball overpowered by Southeast Missouri State University, 12-2, Sunday afternoon in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. USI is 15-21 overall and 5-7 in the OVC, while SEMO goes to 18-18, 8-4 OVC.
 
The Screaming Eagles had the early lead, 1-0, with a tally in the first inning. USI senior first baseman Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas) pushed senior rightfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan) across the plate with a RBI-single to center with one out.
 
The Redhawks took the momentum and command in the second inning with a pair of runs and began a streak of scoring in three-straight innings to lead, 8-1. SEMO had three home runs in the dash through the three innings.
 
USI tried to get the offense jump stared in the seventh with back-to-back doubles by sophomore shortstop Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) and Ebest, who finished the day two-for-two with two RBIs, to close the gap to 8-2.  SEMO, however, would end the game in the bottom half of the inning with four runs to conclude the 12-2 final.
 
On the bump, USI junior right-hander Gavin Morris (Brazil, Indiana) took the loss, going 1.1 innings before leaving game with an injury. Morris allowed two runs on three hits.
 
Up Next for the Eagles:
 
The Eagles return to the friendly surroundings of the USI Baseball Field for a five-game homestand. The homestand starts Tuesday at 6 p.m. with a non-conference visit from Western Kentucky University; follows April 19-20 with a three-game OVC series versus the University of Tennessee at Martin; and concludes April 23 with a non-conference contest with Belmont University.
 
The Hilltoppers are 25-12 after winning a three-game series at Sam Houston State University. WKU is 8-2 in the last 10 games.
 
WKU leads the all-time series with USI, 9-2, after defeating the Eagles in March, 5-3. Senior designated hitter Jack Ellis (Jeffersonville, Indiana) led the USI hitters with two hits, while sophomore shortstop Caleb Niehaus had two of the three USI RBIs.
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EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Women’s Tennis (8-10) picked up a huge victory over Tennessee State University (4-19) on Saturday afternoon at the USI Tennis Courts, 6-1. The win improves the Screaming Eagles record to 4-2 at the conclusion of the regular season in the Ohio Valley Conference play.
 
USI will compete in three more non-conference matches to conclude the regular season. However, today’s win slots the Eagles into a three seed in the OVC tournament. The quarterfinal opponent will be played on April 19 against the six-seeded Eastern Illinois University Panthers in St. Louis, Missouri.
 
Doubles: USI got off to a strong start winning two of the doubles matches. The freshman duo of Sofia Davidoff (Lagny-sur-Marne, France) and Anais Negrail (Maisons-Alfort, France) took down the Tigers number one doubles opponent 7-5.
 
Freshman Antonia Ferrarini (Caxias do Sul, Brazil) and junior Madison Windham (Clarksville, Tennessee) added to their impressive resume together winning the doubles two matchup in dominant fashion, 6-0. The duo improves to 5-1 together on the season.
 
Singles: The Eagles carried the momentum into singles taking five of the six matches. Junior Abby Myers (Evansville, Indiana) took care of business winning 6-3, 6-2. Windham also make quick work in her singles five matchup, 6-4, 6-2. Davidoff joined the party with a 6-3, 6-4 victory improving her conference singles record to 4-2.
 
Ferrarini gutted out a win against a strong opponent in the singles two matchup 6-2, 7-6, finishing with an OVC regular season singles record of 4-2. Negrail concluded the day with a riveting singles three victory, 6-3, 6-7, 1-0. She finished with a team leading 5-1 singles record in the OVC.
 

AZUSA, Ca.- University of Southern Indiana Men’s and Women’s Track and Field brought six competitors to the ultra-competitive Bryan Clay Invitational in beautiful Azusa, California. The invite brought in teams from around the country.
 
USI competed in the 1500-meter and 5000-meter competitions on both the men’s and women’s sides.
 
Women
Freshman Zoe Seward (Rochester, Indiana) competed in the 5000-meter run finishing with a time of 17:22.03. Sophomore Emily Rempe (Owensboro, Kentucky) took on the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:46.63.

Men
Junior Brady Terry (Philpot, Kentucky) improved his season best 5000-meter time placing 21^st out of 90 competitors with a time of 14:37.80. This was a 14 second improvement from his time at the Wash U Distance Carnival. Junior Dylan Bland (Holland, Indiana) was right behind Terry at 14:43.11 crushing his season best by 21 seconds. Terry earned another respectable time in the 1500 meter at 3:58.87.

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Freshman Brooke Voss gave the University of Evansville softball team a first-inning lead, but Southern Illinois would post the final four runs of the game to take a 4-1 win on Sunday afternoon at Charlotte West Stadium.

Just as they did on Saturday, the Purple Aces took the early lead.  Alexa Davis was hit by a pitch to open the game and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches.  Brooke Voss brought her home with a sacrifice fly.  With two outs, Jenna Nink picked up UE’s first base hit of the afternoon.

SIU tied the score in the bottom of the second and looked to add more, but Lacy Smith found Marah Wood, who threw out a baserunner at home to end the inning.  One frame later, Southern Illinois took its first lead before adding a pair of insurance scores in the sixth.

Nink and Taylor Howe picked up Evansville’s hits in the contest.  Sydney Weatherford went the full six innings and allowed seven hits.  Maddia Groff entered the game for SIU with two outs in the first and struck out 15 batters on the way to her 21^st win of the year.  Katherine Johnson paced the Salukis with two RBI.

Next weekend, the Aces are home for a 3-game series versus Murray State.

 Pelham, Ala.:  The 14-year second-round drought ended for Evansville hockey fans on Saturday night in Pelham, as the Thunderbolts defeated the Birmingham Bulls 4-3 in overtime to advance to the President’s Cup Semifinals for the first time in their history, the first series win for Evansville pro hockey since the Evansville IceMen in 2010.  Game one against the Peoria Rivermen at Ford Center will be on Wednesday, April 17^th at 7:00pm CT, admission free of charge.

Only 42 seconds into the game, the Thunderbolts grabbed the first lead of the night as Logan vande Meerakker sniped in a shot off the rush, assisted by Scott Kirton and Grant Spence.  Birmingham tied the game at 7:04 with a power play goal from Drake Glover.  Following a pair of clutch penalty kills, the Thunderbolts took a 2-1 lead at 18:10 of the second period, as Vadim Vasjonkin’s shot just barely got through Hayden Stewart, assisted by Lincoln Hatten and Matthew Hobbs.  The Bulls tied the game 6:13 into the third period with a goal from Matt Wiesner, before a goal from Dmitri Yushkevich with only 4:28 remaining gave the Thunderbolts a late 3-2 lead, assisted by Scott Kirton.  However, the Bulls answered again to tie the game and force overtime with another Glover power play goal at 16:29.  In overtime it was Hobbs, who started his professional career with the Bulls before joining Evansville two years ago, who scored the series-winning goal 5:28 into overtime, assisted by Myles Abbate and Vasjonkin to win the game and the series for Evansville, 4-3 and 2-1 respectively.

Hobbs scored the series-winning goal along with an assist, Vasjonkin finished with a goal and assist, Yushkevich along with vande Meerakker scored one goal each, and Kirton finished with a pair of assists.  In goal, Ceci finished with 56 saves on 59 shots for his second win of the playoffs.  In addition to  being the first series win in Thunderbolts’ franchise history, it was the 7^th time in SPHL history that the #1 seeded team was upset in the first round.  The Thunderbolts will take on the Peoria Rivermen in the  President’s Cup Semifinal, also a best-of-three series.  Evansville will host game one at Ford Center, free to attend, on Wednesday, April 17^th at 7:00pm CT.  Game two will be in Peoria on Friday, April 19^th at 7:15pm CT, and if necessary, game three in Peoria will be on Sunday, April 21^st at 3:15pm CT.