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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville Purple Aces baseball team pounded out 16 hits and 10 runs on Friday night, en route to a 10-1 beating of the visiting Butler University Bulldogs on the opening day of the 2009 Dunn Hospitality Classic. The win was the first this season for the Aces and the first for new head coach Wes Carroll.

 

Senior shortstop Peter Tountas and junior third baseman Cody Fick tallied four hits each to lead the Aces offensive attack. On the mound, Senior John Foley led the Aces with a great pitching performance. Foley totaled seven innings of work, scattering six hits and one run while striking out seven Butler batters.

 

“We had a great recipe for success tonight,” said head coach Carroll. “We pitched well, kept the ball down, executed at the plate, and recorded zero errors in the field.”

 

Evansville employed a very balance offensive attack on Friday night. Tountas, Nate Smith and Andrew Gher recorded two RBIs each.

 

Butler scored its lone run of the game in the top of the first inning, on a single to center field by first baseman Kyle Schultz. After that inning, Foley settled down, allowing just four hits and no runs over his next six innings on the mound.

 

UE jumped on top for good in the bottom of the second inning. Smith doubled to right field and would be brought home two batters latter by Gher on an RBI single. The following batter, Alex Acheson, knocked home Tountas to score the second run of the inning.

 

The Aces struck again in the fifth, scoring a total of three runs. Andy Pascoe and Fick led off the inning with back-to-back doubles and would both touch base on a two RBI single by Smith. After Smith stole second base, Tountas tripled to right field to tally the final run of the inning.

 

Evansville put the game out of reach in the seventh, scoring five runs on five hits in the frame. Tountas, Gher, and Jim Viscomi knocked in runs the seventh for the Aces, with the remaining runs scoring on a wild pitch and an error by Butler’s Colin Ziegel.

 

In the first game of the day, Saint Louis University topped Eastern Illinois University 5-4. The teams entered the ninth inning tied 4-4, but Saint Louis rallied to score the winning run with two outs on an RBI single by designated hitter Jon Myers.

 

Day two of the 2009 Dunn Hospitality Classic will begin at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, with Eastern Illinois taking on Butler. Evansville will host Saint Louis in the second game, which is set to begin at 3:00 p.m.