Aces travel to Sevierville, Tenn.

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Spring action commences this weekend for the University of Evansville men’s golf team when they travel to Sevierville, Tenn. for the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate.

Running from Sunday through Tuesday, the tournament features 18 holes each day with tee times starting at 8:30 a.m. ET.  The River Course at the Sevierville Golf Club will be the host for the event.  Par is set for 72 and the yardage is 6,891.

This year’s field includes Alabama A&M, Bellarmine, Belmont, Chicago State, Christian Brothers, Cleveland State, Delta State, Detroit Mercy, Evansville, Lee, Morehead State, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, Tennessee State and host Tennessee Tech.  West Virginia will have individuals competing.

Evansville last competed in the fall at the Lehigh University Invitational.  Daniil Romashkin was the top finisher for the Purple Aces, coming home in 11^th place in a tournament highlighted by an even par of 72 in the opening round.

As a team, the Aces finished in 6^th place out of 13 participants.  Prior to that event, UE was in Murray, Ky. for The Buddy.  With a team score of 856, Evansville came home in second place in the team standings while Carson Parker was the runner-up on the individual side.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—University of Evansville sophomore diver Levi McKinney (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) wrapped up the 2024 swimming and diving season in strong fashion for the Purple Aces on Friday afternoon, as he placed 23rd in the one-meter competition at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.

McKinney posted a six-dive score of 253.05, finishing right behind Dash Glasberg of Indiana in the men’s standings.  Overall, McKinney placed 23rd out of 34 divers in a competition which featured competitors from the Big Ten, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, and the Mid-American Conference, among others.  The field also featured reigning NCAA one-meter diving champion Lyle Yost of Ohio State.

McKinney’s 23rd-place finish is UE’s best finish at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships since former Missouri Valley Conference Diver of the Year Sadie Wells placed 17th on the women’s side in 2010.  He is the first male to compete at the NCAA Zone Championships since Andy Balzco did in 2011.

The 2024 NCAA Zone Diving Championship concludes the 2023-24 swimming and diving season for the University of Evansville.  The Purple Aces are expected to return 19 swimmers and divers on the men’s side, and 10 competitors on the women’s side next season.

INA, Ill. – The No. 4-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers punched their ticket to the 2024 NJCAA Division I National tournament Friday night by winning over Wabash Valley College 73-67 to claim VU’s first District tournament championship since 2018.

VU sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) also took home some hardware of his own, earning tournament MVP honors after scoring 56 points and grabbing 36 rebounds over the three-game tournament.

Vincennes Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin also received the 2023-24 NJCAA Division I Region 24 Coach of the Year award Friday night.

Friday’s game lived up to the big game hype with a Championship on the line, with every possession feeling extremely important all night long.

The Trailblazers were the first to strike out of the gates, opening up the game on an 11-3 scoring run before Wabash Valley would answer back with 11 straight to take a 14-11 lead.

Vincennes would grab the lead back later in the half at 24-23 before Wabash Valley answered with a 6-1 scoring run.

The Trailblazers were able to close out the half strong, evening the game at 29-29 after a pair of free throws with under a minute remaining.

This would be the score at the end of the first half as the two teams headed into the locker room deadlocked at 29-29 after the first 20 minutes of play.

The upset-minded Warriors looked to grab the early momentum in the second half, building a 36-31 lead before VU would capitalize on a 9-0 scoring run to take a 45-39 lead.

Wabash Valley continued to fight and got the game back to even at 52-52 before later taking the lead back at 59-58.

VU would answer back with seven unanswered to take a 65-59 lead and later get their largest lead of the night at 71-63.

Vincennes was able to hold on to this lead as the Blazers ran down the clock and closed out the 73-67 victory, capturing their first Region 24/Central District tournament Championship since 2018 and earning them a spot in the NJCAA Division I National tournament for the 11th time in 12 years.

“I thought Wabash did a great job,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “They had a great gameplan and we knew what the gameplan was going to be. It was exactly what we thought they were going to do but they executed it. I thought we had a chance early to really establish ourselves and we got sloppy. Then we acted like the pressure and the momentum got to us and we got out of character.”

“But we did what we had to do,” Franklin added. “We leveled up and handled it. They made some tough shots in the second half. But that’s going to happen when you are going up against somebody who is playing well. They had a big week, played two good ball games and now they are playing for their lives and we had to handle it.”

“Wabash Valley did a great job,” Franklin said. “They fought us. They battled us and they made us have to earn it. We weren’t hitting jump shots and we didn’t want to shoot jump shots and that’s exactly what they wanted. We’ll have to learn from that. It’s one of those little lessons, under pressure and all of those things that we have to handle. But we hit two big shots late and that was the difference in the ball game. Ryan hit one on one side of the court and Kent hit one on the other side and at the end of the game, that six-point difference, that’s really what it was. We had been looking for those things all night long, didn’t get it, but we got it there.”

The Blazers were led offensively by tournament MVP Michael Osei-Bonsu, who finished with another big double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, his 11th double-double of the season and 17th of his VU career.

Sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) also scored in double figures, ending his night with 15 points, seven rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) came off the bench to add 13 points on the night, including hitting a perfect seven of seven from the free throw line.

Freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) closed out his tournament with eight points and five assists, while sophomore Kent King (Washington, D.C) added seven points and a pair of steals.

Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) scored all seven of his points Friday night in the second half while also grabbing eight rebounds.

“This is a great win,” Franklin said. “Our guys have got to deal with a lot. We’re coming over here, traveling four hours round trip just on the bus, not counting the things like getting here early and all of the other schedule things that can really tax you. Three times in five days. It’s not fair and it’s not fair that we are put in that position and certainly not fair that the best team in the league, who earned that right is doing that. I strongly believe that and we are constantly put in a bit of an unfair situation.”

Macon, Ga.:  Down 2-0, the Thunderbolts rallied late to force overtime and defeat the Mayhem in a shootout, 3-2 in Macon on Friday night for the Thunderbolts’ 20^th win of the season.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, March 22^nd against the Peoria Rivermen, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

The Thunderbolts faltered early, with Macon’s Brett Mecrones opening the scoring only 13 seconds into the game.  Despite being heavily outshot, Macon was able to take a 2-0 lead as Alex Laplante scored at 17:32 of the middle frame.  In a late push, Mark Zhukov tipped in a Grayson Valente shot at 19:00 to cut Macon’s lead to 2-1, also assisted by Vadim Vasjonkin.  Macon controlled most of the third period and got a power play opportunity in the final two minutes to put the game away, however the Thunderbolts were able to muster a shorthanded rush and Scott Kirton scored to tie the game at 2-2 with only 48 seconds remaining, assisted by Matthew Hobbs and Dmitri Yushkevich for the Thunderbolts’ first shorthanded goal of the season.  After a scoreless overtime, the Thunderbolts scored on shootout attempts from Myles Abbate, Kirton, and Vasjonkin, while Ty Taylor was unbeaten on all three Macon attempts as the Thunderbolts completed the comeback.  With Knoxville also losing tonight, the Thunderbolts now have a 7 point lead above the playoff line.

Kirton scored the tying goal as well as a goal in the shootout,  Abbate scored the shootout-winning goal, Zhukov finished with one goal, and Vasjonkin scored a goal in the shootout.  In goal, Ty Taylor made 25 saves on 27 shots in regulation and overtime, along with three saves on three shootout attempts for his 4th win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Mayhem meet again for the final time this season on March 16^th at Macon Centreplex Coliseum.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State starting pitcher Joseph Dzierwa hand-cuffed the University of Evansville offense on Friday, limiting the Purple Aces to just two runs on three hits while striking out eight men in 7.1 innings of work to help guide the host Spartans to an 11-3 victory over UE at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field in East Lansing, Michigan.

Dzierwa (2-1) set the tone in the first inning, retiring Evansville in order with a pair of strikeouts. He would get all of the offensive support he would need in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a three-run frame by the Michigan State offense, highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles down the left-field line by second baseman Ryan McKay and third baseman Dillon Kark.

Dzierwa would retire the first seven Purple Aces he would face before UE freshman second baseman Brodie Peart would get to the left-hander for his first career home run – an opposite-field shot to right field – to cut Michigan State’s lead to 3-1. Dzierwa would bounce back though to retire eight of the next nine men he faced, and Michigan State would blow things open with five two-out runs in the fourth inning to push the lead to 8-1.

UE senior first baseman Kip Fougerousse would add a first-pitch home run in the top of the eighth inning to cut the MSU lead to 8-2. He would add an RBI double in the ninth inning after Michigan State scored three more two-out runs in the eighth inning. Fougerousse was the lone Purple Ace to post a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBI.

With the victory, Michigan State improves to 6-9 on the 2024 season. Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 8-9 overall. The series will continue on Saturday afternoon at 2:35 p.m. central time in a game that can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS with the Voice of the Aces, Jevin Redman, providing the play-by-play coverage. Freshman left-hander Kenton Deverman (2-1, 5.24 ERA) is scheduled to get the Saturday start for UE.