EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Evansville junior first baseman Derek Melton’s bases loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth inning Wednesday night snapped a 7-7 tie and capped a wild 8-7 Purple Aces’ victory over visiting Southeast Missouri State at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

 

Evansville led virtually throughout Wednesday’s contest, until a three-run ninth-inning rally by the visiting Redhawks tied the score at 7-7. SEMO plated three runs in the ninth on a bases loaded walk to third baseman Trenton Moses and a two-run single by outfielder Matt Wulfers. UE junior pitcher John Foley (2-1) would calm down through to record the final two outs of the inning with the bases loaded to keep the score tied 7-7.

 

Freshman outfielder Greg Wallace then led off Evansville’s bottom of the ninth inning with a bunt base hit over the head of SEMO reliever Sam Rosener (0-1). After a wild pitch moved Wallace to second base, reliever Corey Harness came on to intentionally walk second baseman Shawn Kuester to set up a force situation. 

 

UE sophomore catcher Andy Pascoe then laid down a sacrifice bunt in which he reached base on a SEMO error to load the bases, before Melton lifted the first pitch he saw from Harness deep down the left field line to score Wallace with the game-winning run.

 

“It was good to see our guys battle back after Southeast Missouri State rallied to tie things in the ninth inning,” said UE head coach David Seifert. “This is a good win for our team, and hopefully, this will give us some momentum heading into this weekend’s conference series with Illinois State, because this is a big weekend for both teams standings-wise.”

 

Pascoe led Evansville’s offensive attack with a 3-for-4 effort and two RBI, while Melton, Wallace, and freshman designated hitter Brian Robinson all added two-hit nights. Wulfers paced SEMO, which defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, by going 2-for-5 with three RBI.

 

The win is Evansville’s second in a row, as the Purple Aces (4-21) will now return to the diamond next this weekend in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series with Illinois State beginning on Friday at Braun Stadium. First-pitch for Friday’s opener is set for 6:00 p.m. and all three games can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV. Southeast Missouri State, meanwhile, drops to 11-9 overall with the loss.