UE baseball falls in series finale at Little Rock
The Purple Aces participated in their first run rule game of 2025
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The University of Evansville baseball team couldn’t stop Little Rock’s red-hot offense in an 11-1 loss on Sunday afternoon.
The Purple Aces faced their first run-rule defeat as the Little Rock Trojans burst out to an early lead and didn’t surrender through eight innings. Sophomore left-hander Kevin Reed (Martinsville, Ind. / Martinsville HS) made his first start of 2025, pitching 3.2 innings with four strikeouts. Senior catcher Evan Waggoner (Bedford, Ind. / Bedford Lawrence North HS) led UE on offense going two of three at the plate with two hits, a double, and an RBI.
Evansville’s offense started Sunday with two hits to have runners in scoring position as senior second baseman Cal McGinnis (Kimberly, Wis. / Bradley) singled and went to third on a double from Waggoner. However, a strikeout to shortstop Brodie Pert (Markham, Ontario, Canada) ended the Aces’ offensive threat in the first. UE began the bottom of the inning with an out but soon struggled with the Trojan offense.
Little Rock put together three hits and reached on an error in four at-bats to take a 3-0 lead early. And the Trojans weren’t done as a ground out scored another runner and a balk call on Reed scored a fifth runner in half an inning. Evansville faced a 5-0 deficit after only an inning of work at Gary Hogan Field.
It was a clean second inning for both teams with three up and three down appearances at the plate. Little Rock added another run in the bottom of the third on a single but back-to-back strikeouts from Reed kept the Trojan lead at 6-0. Waggoner connected on his second hit in the top of the fourth but was stranded on the basepaths.
Little Rock began the bottom of the fourth with two singles and made it a 7-0 game on a stolen base attempt at second. Reed added his fourth strikeout of the game after the score, but the inning was finished by freshman right-hander RJ James (Toronto, Ontario) in his collegiate debut. James stayed on the mound for the Aces for the next four innings with two strikeouts.
UE went three-up and three-down in the top of the fifth while the Trojans led off with a double. The double wouldn’t lead to anything as center fielder Ty Rumsey (Evansville, Ind. / North HS) turned a flyout into a double play at home with a bullseye throw to Waggoner to end the inning. Evansville quickly got a batter on base in the top of the sixth as McGinnis was hit by a pitch with one out.
With McGinnis at first right fielder Harrison Taubert (Casper, Wyo. / Northeast HS) had his second multi-base hit in as many games with a double to left center. With runners on third and second Waggoner was able to drop the ball in between first and second to score McGinnis and advance Taubert to third with two outs. Taubert would stay at third as Little Rock got the third out to keep it a 7-1 game.
The Aces made three defensive changes in the seventh inning that kept the Trojans from scoring. But Little Rock’s offense got going in the bottom of the eighth inning to end the game a half inning early with four runs for the 11-1 run rule. UE will return to action on Tuesday, February 18 at Lipscomb. First pitch from Ken Dugan Field is set for 3 p.m. next week.
