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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Down two runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the University of Evansville Purple Aces baseball team loaded the bases to allow sophomore south paw Greg Wallace to come through with some late inning heroics against the visiting Murray State University Thoroughbreds on Tuesday night at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville, Ind.

Wallace took a pitch from Murray State reliever Matt McGaha (2-1) over the right-center field wall for his first career grand slam, putting the Purple Aces ahead for good at 11-9.   The grand slam was the first for Evansville since Tristan Facer cleared the bases in 2007, also against Murray State.

Evansville struck first on Tuesday night, plating three runs in the bottom of the second inning.  Center fielder Jim Viscomi came to the plate with the bases loaded and drove in Nate Smith and Andy Smith with a single through the right side of the infield.  Third baseman Cody Fick would tally the third run of the inning, driving in Alex Acheson with a sacrifice fly.

Murray State closed the lead to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the third, but UE responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.  With Trentt Copeland on second base, Peter Tountas sent a pitch high into the sky and over the left-center field wall for his first home run of the season, putting Evansville’s lead back to three runs at 5-2.

The Thoroughbreds answered again in the top of the fourth, scoring five runs, and would add to the advantage in the top of the fifth by plating two runs in the frame to take a 9-5 advantage.

The Purple Aces closed the lead to 9-7 in the bottom of the seventh, scoring one run on a Thoroughbred error and another on a sacrifice fly by Andy Pascoe.  The UE pitching staff would hold Murray State in check for the remainder of the game, allowing Wallace to come through with a game-winning blast.

Wallace led the offense on Tuesday night, going 2-5 with four RBI.  Viscomi finished the night at 2-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.  Tom Heithoff also notched a multi-hit game for the Aces, going 2-4.  Corey Davisson (2-1) picked up the victory by tossing a perfect eighth inning.  #J.R. Carbonell# earned his second save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning of work.

With the victory, Evansville improves to 15-18 on the season.  Murray State falls to 20-14.  The Purple Aces will be back in play on Wednesday, when they host cross-town rivals in the University of Southern Indiana.  First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. and can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.