EVANSVILLE – After a postponement of more than 40 hours, the University of Evansville baseball team fell in a pair of contests to visiting Northern Illinois on Sunday at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
The first contest, which began on Friday evening, picked up in the bottom of the seventh with the Aces (13-25) trailing 2-1. However, a three-run top of the eighth proved UE's undoing as the team went on to fall 5-2 to the visitors from the Mid-American Conference. In the second game, a single run in second was all the Huskies (12-26) would need as UE fell 1-0.
Both Aces starters were pegged with hard-luck losses in the series, beginning with Patrick Schnieders, who tossed seven innings and struck out six on Friday night. Connor Strain earned the nod on Sunday, giving up just five hits and a single run through 6.1 frames. The senior out of Shelburn, Ind., fanned five in the contest and saw his scoreless streak snapped at 15 innings.
"To go 0-2 on a weekend where you get that kind of effort from Patrick Schnieders and Connor Strain is very difficult to accept," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "Our offense wasn't competitive enough to win today. We're going to have to pick ourselves up and climb out of this hole. I think this next week is going to be pivotal for us."
A Joe Jumonville single got things started for NIU in the second, and another single from Mike Roberson moved him into scoring position. A Roderick Bynum sacrifice bunt put both in scoring position before Brad Wood brought in the run with a groundout to short.
Jumonville was the only batter on either team to record multiple hits, finishing 2-for-4 at the plate.
Meanwhile, Strain's counterpart also enjoyed an impressive outing as Donovin Sims earned the win for the Huskies. He surrendered just four hits over 7.2 innings before Andrew Frankenreider came in to pick up the final four outs.
UE will return to action this with a two-game set against Murray State, beginning with a game in Paducah, Ky., on Tuesday before returning to Charles H. Braun Stadium on Wednesday.
NOTES: After going 0-for-4 in the first game, Trey Hair saw his season-best 14-game hitting streak snapped … Connor Strain's 15-inning scoreless streak was the longest for an Aces pitcher this season … Sunday marked the first time the Aces had been shut out in a contest since a 3-0 loss to Indiana State on May 21, 2016 … UE is now 7-3 against NIU since 1978 … In that same timespan, the Aces are 252-227 against schools from the state of Illinois … Since 1987, UE is 9-10 on April 23 and 333-282 in the month overall.
=== #AcesAces ===
INFO: For all the latest information on University of Evansville Baseball, visit the sport page at GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthleticsBASE.
DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the Donate tab at the top of GoPurpleAces.com
TICKETS: To purchase tickets for UE Athletics events, visit GoPurpleAces.com and click on the Tickets tab at the top of the page.
