UE baseball opens MVC play with 6-5 win over Murray State
The Purple Aces opened conference play with a win for the first time in two years
MURRAY, Ky. – The University of Evansville baseball team returned to the win column on Friday afternoon with its first Missouri Valley Conference victory of 2025.
The Purple Aces were able to overcome a three-run deficit for their first win in almost two weeks and start MVC play with a 1-0 record. UE’s defense helped power Evansville to the victory by only allowing one runner in scoring position to make it home on 11 chances for the Murray State Racers. At the plate infielder Cal McGinnis (Kimberly, Wis. / Bradley) led the way with his third three-hit game of the season while scoring two runs and adding two RBIs.
For the second game this week it was all defense early at Johnny Reagan Field. Aces starter Kenton Deverman (Dardenne Prairie, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt West HS) didn’t allow a run in his first two innings of work while striking out a Murray State batter and drawing a double play. But it was the Racers who scored first in the bottom of the third with four hits. Murray State scored three in the half inning to put UE down early.
Evansville started to answer in the fourth inning as McGinnis connected on his first hit of the day. The Aces soon had the bases loaded with two singles and a walk and were able to capitalize with a sacrifice fly. UE only brought the one run home in the top of the fourth but held the Racers scoreless in the bottom of the inning to only trail by two runs.
The top of the fifth inning was big for Evansville as its first three batters reached base to load them with no outs. McGinnis added his two RBIs on Friday with the bases loaded, putting the ball into left field on a double and tying the game at three runs each. The Aces took the lead on their next at-bat as sophomore utility Brodie Peart (Markham, Ontario) ground out to short for the fourth run.
Relief pitcher Max Hansmann (Elmhurst, Ill. / York HS) shut down the Racers in the fifth with two strikeouts in four batters. He also worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning with a strikeout looking and a groundout to the mound. UE added its insurance runs in the top of the seventh with two hits and two walks in four at-bats.
Murray State walked in a run for Evansville making it a 5-3 game. On the next at-bat infielder Drew McConnell (Blue Springs, Mo. / Blue Springs HS) hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring the Aces’ sixth and final run of the game. The Racers didn’t go down without a fight as they added a run in the eighth and the ninth innings with only a hit. But UE shut the door as Peart moved onto the mound with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Peart threw a strikeout while also drawing three putouts to earn his first collegiate save and give Evansville a 6-5 win to begin conference play.
Left fielder Charlie Longmeier (Seymour, Ind. / Seymour HS) was the other Ace with multiple hits against Murray State. Longmeier connected in two at-bats and walked twice. Catcher Matt Flaherty (Lake Zurich, Ill. / Bellarmine) brought in two runs on two separate at-bats to help with UE’s six RBIs. Hansmann earned his first win of the season while Peart picked up his first collegiate save in the victory.
Evansville gets right back to work tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader against the Racers starting at noon.
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