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EVANSVILLE, Ind.--University of Evansville freshman right-hander Kyle Lloyd baffled the high-powered Division II University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles for seven innings of four-hit, two-run baseball on Tuesday night and the Purple Aces’ offense stayed red-hot, as UE posted its sixth-straight victory with an 8-2 victory in front of 926 fans at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
Making his first career start in the “Battle At The Braun” series between the Purple Aces and the crosstown Screaming Eagles, who are ranked as high as 16th at the Division II level, Lloyd (1-0) was masterful, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning, and taking that one-hit performance into the seventh inning, when USI finally touched him up for two runs. Lloyd had made just four previous mound appearances for UE this spring spanning 6.1 innings of work.
By the time USI finally solved Lloyd’s tosses, UE had already jumped to an 8-0 lead. Evansville scored the game’s first run in the first inning thanks to the speed of UE freshman shortstop Eric Stamets, who walked to lead off the inning, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored on a wild pitch by USI starter Dan Marcacci (4-2).
The Purple Aces would tack on two more runs in the second inning on a double by junior outfielder Greg Wallace and a misplay in right field and an RBI single by junior infielder Cody Fick. UE would then put the game out of reach in the fifth inning with five unearned runs to build an 8-0 cushion. A two-out error at third base with the bases loaded would push across the first run, and then Wallace would clear the bases with an opposite-field three-run double in front of another RBI single by Fick to plate the five runs.
“Usually, in mid-week games, it comes down to pitching, and that was the case once again tonight,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “I thought that Kyle Lloyd really did a great job of throwing strike one and strike two to batters and working ahead in the count, and when you do that, you can be very successful on the mound. Kyle really stepped up big today for us on the mound, and that is great to see.
“Offensively, we continue to get good production out of different guys up and down the order, as today, four different guys had multi-hit efforts. Greg Wallace continues to swing a hot bat for us, as he has all year, and Cody Fick is starting to swing it well as well. When those two guys get hot, it makes life pretty easy as a head coach.”
Wallace and Fick both had two-hit efforts for UE, with Wallace driving in three runs to move his Missouri Valley Conference-leading total to 51 and Fick adding a pair of RBI. Sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland and junior designated hitter Shawn Kuester also had two hits each for UE. Outfielder Caleb Ehmke paced USI with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate, as the Screaming Eagles were limited to just five hits on the night.
With the victory, Evansville improves to 21-16 overall as winners of six-straight and eight of its last nine. USI, meanwhile, falls to 34-11 on the season with the loss. UE will now return to Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time in two weeks on Friday night, as the Purple Aces will wrap up a lengthy home stretch by entertaining the Bradley University Braves (11-19 overall, 4-8 MVC) in a three-game conference series. The series begins Friday night at 6:00 p.m. in a game that can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
