Aces head to Louisville Friday through Sunday

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Impending weather in the Louisville area, the schedule for this weekend’s Bellarmine tournament has been altered.  The University of Evansville softball team will play in four contests over the weekend running Friday through Sunday.

Friday’s contest against Bellarmine will remain at 2:30 p.m. CT while Saturday’s action will feature a single game against Bellarmine at 11 a.m. CT.  The final two games will be on Sunday with the Purple Aces facing St. Bonaventure at 12 p.m. CT and a third game versus the Knights at 2:30 p.m. CT.

Evansville is fresh off its first win of the season as the Aces took down Lindenwood buy a 2-1 final on Wednesday evening.  Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Marah Wood launched what would be the game-winning 2-run home run.  Hannah Hood scored on the play after walking earlier in the inning.

In the circle, Megan Brenton was exceptional in earning the victory.  She scattered six hits and a run over the course of seven innings of work.

Bellarmine enters the weekend with a 6-10 record by gave the University of Kentucky a fight on Wednesday night, falling by a score of 3-1.  St Bonaventure holds a 1-8 mark with a win coming over Quinnipiac last weekend.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will begin a rugged stretch of seven out of eight games against Power Five competition this weekend, as the Purple Aces will travel to Starkville, Mississippi to battle perennial Southeastern Conference power Mississippi State in a three-game series.  All three games are scheduled to be streamed on the SEC Network+ streaming service.

Evansville will bring a 7-5 overall record into this weekend’s series after winning three out of four games against Purdue Fort Wayne over the weekend.  The UE offense has started the season on fire, as the Purple Aces rank among the NCAA’s top 15 in five major offensive categories entering the weekend:  doubles (2nd-41), hits (6th-152), batting average (9th-.345), on-base percentage (13th-.454) and scoring (13th-10.4 runs per game).  Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger currently leads the UE offense and the Missouri Valley Conference with a .447 batting average, and will ride an 11-game hitting streak into Friday’s series opener.  Senior shortstop Simon Scherry (.405) and junior second baseman Cal McGinnis (.404) also both hit above .400 on the season for UE.

Mississippi State will bring a 9-4 overall record into the series after rallying past Southern Miss, 5-4, on Tuesday.  The Bulldogs have won six-straight games, and Mississippi State has done it with power pitching.  MSU ranks 32nd nationally in team earned run average at 3.76, and the Bulldogs rank 11th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.0) and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.03), as they have racked up 153 strikeouts against just 38 walks in 13 games.

The series is scheduled to start on Friday at 6 p.m., although rain is forecast for the Starkville area all day on Friday.  It will continue on Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. with single contests.  UE will send senior RHP Nick Smith (0-1, 8.71 ERA) to the mound in the opener.  He is expected to be opposed by MSU junior RHP Nate Dohm (2-0, 1.02 ERA).  This series will mark the first ever meetings between UE and Mississippi State in baseball.

Humrichous leads the way with 15 points

1. LOUIS – Leading from start to finish, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team earned a 59-53 Arch Madness win over Illinois State inside the Enterprise Center.  With the victory, the Purple Aces will face the #2 seed Drake on Friday evening at 6 p.m.

“As the game went on, Illinois State did not go away.  It was a hard-fought game for 40 minutes.  Proud of these guys for sticking together and finding a way.  We did a lot of good things today to come out on top,” UE head men’s basketball coach David Ragland exclaimed.  “This is the same team that started 6-0, the same special group that tripled our win total from last season and we made a decision as a group to have a ton of pride and play this game with no regrets.”

“The way we dove on the floor and got those 50/50 ball shows that we came here to win.”

Ben Humrichous was the leading scorer for UE, totaling 15 points and 11 boards.  Yacine Toumi registered 10 points and 8 caroms while Antonio Thomas registered 9 points and Gage Bobe had 8.  Myles Foster was the leading scorer for Illinois State, posting 18 points.

Bobe knocked down a triple to open the scoring while Yacine Toumi followed with a basket to put UE up 5-0.  Illinois State registered the next three points and hung around a possession with the score sitting at 13-11 just past the midway point of the opening half.

Following two Ben Humrichous free throws, Bobe converted from downtown for the second time to put Evansville in front by an 18-11 margin.  With 2:30 remaining in the half, Cam Haffner gave the Aces their largest advantage of the half at 22-13.  ISU closed the gap over the final moments, cutting the UE lead to 25-21 at the break.

Antonio Thomas drained a triple to open the second-half to push the advantage to 28-21.  Five in a row from the Redbirds got them right back within a possession.  Humrichous converted his first triple to push the lead back to seven points before his putback gave the Aces a 37-27 lead with 13:16 left in the game.

Over the course of less than two minutes, Illinois State stormed back with seven in a row to cut the deficit to 37-34.  Evansville countered with a 7-0 run of its own, holding ISU to five consecutive misses while taking a 44-34 edge.  Humrichous had five during the run and would later add his third 3-pointer to make it a 47-36 game with under seven minutes remaining.

Another run by ISU saw them reel off eight in a row as they got back within three before cutting the gap to just a pair a few times, including the final minute.  Three free throws in a row by Tanner Cuff and a pair from Thomas would seal the UE victory.