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ROCK HILL, S.C.--A seven-run fourth inning by the Gardner-Webb University Runnin’ Bulldogs baseball team broke open a close game Sunday and propelled Gardner-Webb to a 17-3 victory over the University of Evansville Purple Aces in the second round of the Johnny Gill Memorial Tournament in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
After Evansville had trimmed an early 5-1 deficit back to 5-3 with a two-run fourth inning thanks to a run-scoring wild pitch and an RBI double by junior shortstop Peter Tountas, Gardner-Webb exploded for seven runs in the bottom half of the frame keyed by a two-run double by GWU’s Jeremiah Lokken after a UE error prolonged the inning. Once again, errors proved costly for UE, as the Purple Aces committed five errors which led to seven unearned runs in the contest.
“Some of the problems we have been having can be attributed to not being outside, but others are just plain bad baseball,” said UE head coach David Seifert. “We have not executed that well over the last two games, and that needs to change.
“The team still has a good attitude about things, and a lot of players are trying to pick each other up right now, which is great to see. I think that we will be fine as the season goes along, but we need to get back to executing the fundamentals, because our errors are really hurting right now.”
Gardner-Webb jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after two Evansville errors helped the rally. The Purple Aces would answer back with a run in the second inning on a two-out double by rookie Sean Loggins and an RBI single by sophomore outfielder Alex Acheson to trim the deficit to 3-1, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs would extend their lead to 5-1 with two second-inning runs.
Sophomore outfielder Jared Baehl would kick-start UE’s two-run fourth inning rally with a one-out single. After a walk to Acheson two batters later, Tountas would drive home Baehl with a double to right field to cut the GWU lead to 5-2. A wild pitch in the next at-bat would score Acheson to get UE within two runs, 5-3, but that would be as close as the Purple Aces would come the rest of the way.
Baehl and freshman outfielder Nate Smith paced the Evansville offense with a pair of two-hit efforts. Lokken and lead-off man Jonathan Ahearn both produced three-hit afternoons to ignite the Bulldogs’ attack, with Ahearn scoring four runs and Lokken driving in four runs and finishing a triple short of the cycle. Junior transfer Tom Heithoff (0-1) suffered the loss on the mound for UE, giving up five runs (four earned)?in 3.1 innings of work.
With the victory, Gardner-Webb evens its record at 1-1. Evansville, meanwhile, drops to 0-2 on the young season. The Purple Aces will go in search of their first win of the 2008 season on Monday morning at 11:00 a.m. as UE will do battle with defending Big East Conference champion St. John’s (#24 in Ping! Baseball Top 30) in the final round of the Johnny Gill Memorial Tournament.
