Boxscore
The University of Evansville baseball team is beginning to score more runs and give up fewer. The Purple Aces (5-9) won their second in a row and their third in the last four games on Friday night with a 9-2 victory over Morehead State in the first round of the Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic at UE's Braun Stadium. Purdue won the opener over Le Moyne 3-0.
Purdue plays Morehead State at 11 a.m. Saturday and Evansville plays Le Moyne at 3:00 to finish the second of three rounds of tourney play.
Tom Heithoff, Eric Stamets and Trentt Copeland had two hits each for Evansville, and Heithoff drove in runs in three separate innings with a fifth inning single, a double in the seventh, and a groundout in the eighth. He is now hitting a team-best .357. In addition to a pair of hits, two runs scored and an RBI, Stamets also stole two bases and handled all seven chances at shortstop flawlessly. Designated hitter Ryan Oesterle had two RBIs, with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a single in the seventh. Oesterle's sacrifice drove in Evansville's third run, and that was plenty for pitchers Keegan Dennis, Jake Naumann and Corey Davisson. The trio allowed just five hits, and the two runs were the second fewest allowed by the Aces' pitching staff this season. Morehead State (6-10) was averaging more than seven runs per game coming into Friday's contest.
"This was a great way to start the home season because we executed at the plate and we had three pitchers throw very well against a good-hitting team," said Evansville coach Wes Carroll. "Eric Stamets utilized his speed really well, and Tom Heithoff had a big hit for us when we really needed one. But the biggest thing was our pitching. Keegan pitched very well, and then Jake and Corey were strong in the late innings. That's two in a row. Hopefully we can keep it rolling."
Dennis evened his record at 1-1, striking out six and walking only one through the first five innings. Naumann and Davisson combined to shut out the Eagles on just two basehits over the final four innings.
