EVANSVILLE – After suffering their first nine-inning shutout in over a year on Thursday night, Dallas Baptist responded with a 17-6 win over the University of Evansville baseball team on Friday, setting the stage for a regular season-ending rubber game at Charles H. Braun Stadium on Saturday.
With the loss, the Aces dropped to 17-36 overall with an 8-11 Missouri Valley Conference mark. DBU, which has already secured the No. 2 seed for next week's conference tournament, improved to 35-19 and 14-6, respectively.
The game had all the makings of a slugfest in the first three innings. DBU's Austin Listi and UE's Kenton Crews traded homers in the first inning before the Patriots broke through for seven runs to seemingly open things up and take an 8-1 lead over the Aces. Listi's second homer of the game highlighted the frame as DBU sent 11 batters to the plate.
Listi ended the game 2-for-3 with four RBI, and Camden Duzenack, who homered in the third as well, was 3-for-5 with three runs and six RBI.
However, the Aces responded with a big half-inning of their own in the ensuing frame. Trey Hair knocked in the first two runs with a single. Andrew Tanous would plate another before Stewart Nelson cleared the bases with a triple to cut the deficit to two at 8-6.
Nelson ended the game 2-for-3, and Hair, who has hit safely in all 19 conference games this season, finished 1-for-4.
DBU tacked on three more in the fifth before a 40-minute weather delay brought the game to a halt.
In the seventh, DBU pushed across six more, and UE wouldn't mount a response in the bottom half, activating the league's 10-run rule and bringing the game to an end.
Austin Allinger was pegged with the loss in the contest after giving up the game's first eight runs. He falls to 3-4 on the year. Jordan Martinson (8-3) earned the win for DBU after giving up six runs on seven hits over the first five innings.
The Aces will return to Braun Stadium for an 11 a.m. game on Saturday. Prior to first pitch, the team will pay tribute to its three seniors. It will also mark the Purple Aces Club cookout at the ballpark as fans wearing UE gear will be treated to free hot dogs, bratwurst and drinks.
NOTES: UE is 6-13 all-time against Dallas Baptist … The Aces haven't won a series against the Patriots since 2014 … Since 1978, UE is 8-18 vs. schools from the state of Texas … Dating back to 1987, the Aces are 225-198 in the month of May.
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