The 14th-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team bowed out of the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship after losing to fourth-ranked Lander University, 4-2, Wednesday afternoon in Cary, North Carolina. USI, which lost its first elimination game in the NCAA II Tournament since 2011, sees its season end with a 38-21 overall record, while Lander sees its record rise to 44-15 mark.
The Screaming Eagles battled from behind all day, trailing 1-0 after an inning-and-a-half. USI knotted the score at 1-1 when senior first baseman Andrew Cope (Evansville, Indiana) doubled with two outs and scored sophomore leftfielder Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) all the way from first base.
Lander would rally to take the lead for good with a three-run fourth inning to lead 4-1. USI would cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth when senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) scored senior centerfielder Hamilton Carr (Evansville, Indiana) from second with a RBI-single.
The 4-2 final score would be as close as the Eagles would come in the final game of the season.
Eagles’ freshman right-hander Chase Partain (Evansville, Indiana) did his best in his second post-season start, but took the loss. Partain (3-1) allowed four runs on five hits, while striking out a season-best seven batters.
