Nink hits grand slam in the win

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Jenna Nink hit a grand slam in the first inning and the University of Evansville softball team never looked back, defeating SIUE by a final of 10-0 in non-conference action on Tuesday at Tri-State Orthopaedics Field at Cooper Stadium.

Nink finished the game going 1-2 with four RBI and a walk.  Alexa Davis was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored while Zoe Frossard went 2-2 with three RBI, three runs and a walk.  Megan Brenton was excellent in the circle, tossing a complete game, 3-hit shutout for her 5^th win of 2024.

Evansville was strong out of the gate, plating five runs in the bottom of the first.  Alexa Davis hit a leadoff single while Zoe Frossard and Jess Willsey walked to load the bases.  With one out, Jenna Nink came to the plate and opened the scoring with a grand slam, her first home run of the year.  Two batters later, Brooke Voss hit a solo shot to left field, her fourth long ball of the season.

After Brenton retired the Cougars in order to open the second inning, UE added two more runs in the bottom of the frame.  Back-to-back doubles from Davis and Frossard made it a 6-0 game before Marah Wood hit a sacrifice fly for the 7^th run.

In the bottom of the fourth, a 2-run single from Frossard pushed the lead to 9-0 and Willsey’s RBI single completed the scoring to make it 10-0.  SIUE recorded a hit in the top of the 5^th, but Brenton was able to secure the win for the Purple Aces.

This weekend, UE will be in Nashville for a 3-game series at Belmont.

Parker ties for 26^th in final standings

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Isaac Rohleder and Daniil Romashkin had the low rounds of the day for the Purple Aces while Carson Parker had the top finish for the University of Evansville men’s golf team at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate at the River Course of the Sevierville Golf Club.

Rohleder and Romashkin each registered scores of 73 in Tuesday’s final round.  Rohleder completed play with a 229 on his way to a 34^th place tie while Romashkin wrapped up the tournament with a 236, tying him for 57^th.

Parker picked up the top finish for UE, tying for 26^th.  His 77 in the third round gave him a 226.  Caleb Wassmer tied Romashkin for 57^th.  His third round tally finished at 83.  Andres Rodriguez completed Tuesday with an 81.  His 54-hole score checked in at a 239.

Top team honors went to Lee University. With a 299 in the final round, they completed play with an 880.  They defeated Belmont by two strokes with USI taking third with an 885.  Evansville tied for 11^th with Morehead State.  Their score was a 920.

Haden Maxwell of Tennessee Tech was the medalist.  His 1-under 71 in round three gave him a 214 for the weekend.  He bested Jackson Davenport of West Virginia by one shot.

SEVEN-RUN SIXTH POWERS #24 KENTUCKY PAST EVANSVILLE, 11-3

LEXINGTON, Ky. –  The nationally-ranked University of Kentucky Wildcats exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Tuesday night to snap a 3-3 tie and power to an 11-3 victory over the visiting University of Evansville baseball team at Kentucky Pride Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

“One bad inning let things get away from us tonight,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “When you play a team like UK, you can’t give up as many freebies as we did in that inning, and then they delivered some barrels and made us pay.

“It’s unfortunate, because I feel like we spoiled a great start from Kevin Reed tonight.  It was great to see him get back to his fall, preseason form, as he did a great job of mixing pitches and locations for us, and really kept them off-balance for the most part.”

The first four innings were a pitcher’s duel between Evansville starter Kevin Reed and UK starter Drew Lafferty.  Reed held UK scoreless through the first four innings, while allowing just one hit.  Evansville finally broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with three runs to take a 3-0 lead.  Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger roped an RBI double off the wall in right field, before graduate third baseman Brent Widder launched his team-leading sixth home run of the year to left-center field to give UE a 3-0 lead.

The lead would be short-lived though, as UK answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game.  Then, the Wildcats sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven runs on just four base hits in the sixth inning to grab a lead it would never lose.  The Wildcats added an unearned run in the eighth inning to provide the final margin of victory.

Senior first baseman Kip Fougerousse paced the UE attack by going 2-for-4, while Widder drove in two runs with a home run and Shallenberger extended his on-base streak to 36-straight games dating back to last year by going 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored, an RBI and a hit-by-pitch.  UK out-hit Evansville, 9-8, in the contest.  UK second baseman Emilien Pitre paced the Wildcat offense by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI.

With the victory, UK runs its winning streak to six straight games and improves to 18-3 overall.  Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 9-11 overall with the loss.  The Purple Aces will return home to German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium on Friday night to open Missouri Valley Conference play against Murray State.  First-pitch of the series is set for 6 p.m.

FIRST TEAM

PLAYER GRADE SCHOOL

Luke Ellspermann 11 Memorial

Taray Howell 12 Bosse

Malachi McNair 12 Harrison

Jaylan Mitchell 9 Reitz

Shane Sims 11 Harrison

Tucker Tornatta 12 Memorial

SECOND TEAM

PLAYER GRADE SCHOOL

Cayden Gehlhausen 12 North

Brayden Huebner 12 North

Xander Niehaus 11 Castle

Andrew Noblitt 12 Jasper

Joel Sanders 11 Vincennes Lincoln

Jay Summitt 11 Harrison

Player of the Year

Malachi McNair, Harrison

Coach of the Year

Nathan Fleenor, Harrison