EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Evansville baseball team erupted for nine runs in the first four innings Friday night en route to a 9-8 victory over the No. 30 Missouri State Bears in the first game of a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

 

“This is a great win for our program, as Missouri State is an outstanding team,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “The guys really battled again in the batter’s box tonight against a very good pitcher in Tim Clubb, and up and down the order, different guys were able to come through with base hits to continue rallies.”

 

After the Bears scored a run in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by junior outfielder Ben Carlson and senior third baseman Brayden Drake, Evansville answered right back with a run in the bottom of the first inning on a pair of singles by senior outfielder Jim Viscomi and sophomore outfielder Greg Wallace and an RBI ground out by junior Tom Heithoff.

 

The Purple Aces would then scratch across two runs in the second inning to grab a 3-1 lead on a double by senior shortstop Peter Tountas and an RBI sacrifice bunt by senior catcher Andrew Gher. Evansville would then erupt for five runs in the third inning off of Missouri State starter Tim Clubb (4-3) to grab an 8-1 lead.

 

An RBI triple to right by Heithoff with one out began UE’s five-run third inning uprising. After an error brought home another run, freshman second baseman Trentt Copeland delivered an RBI single and would eventually score on another RBI triple in the frame, this time by Tountas. Gher would then cap the rally with a sacrifice fly to right field to give UE the 8-1 cushion. UE would tack on another run in the fourth inning, before the Bears answered back. 

 

A two-run home run to left field by catcher Dallas Hord in the sixth inning helped Missouri State trim the UE lead to 9-3. The Bears would then score four more in the seventh inning thanks to a three-run home run by Hord, his seventh of the year. 

 

Missouri State would score another run in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 9-8, but Heithoff would step to the mound and work around a two-out single to toss a scoreless ninth inning and record his league-leading seventh save of the year.

 

“Tom Heithoff once again showed his value and importance to this team tonight,” said Carroll. “Offensively, he was able to bring in the first run of the game, and then really got things going with his triple in the third inning. And, on the mound, he was able to come in and slam the door on a very good offensive team in Missouri State. Missouri State was charging hard there in the final three innings, but Tom came on and did the job on the mound, and that was huge.”

 

Copeland, Tountas, Wallace, and sophomore third baseman Cody Fick all had two-hit evenings for Evansville, which collected 12 hits off of Clubb in a complete-game effort. UE senior RHP John Foley (5-2) picked up the victory on the mound for the Purple Aces, scattering three runs on nine hits in 6.0 innings of work, while striking out seven. Hord went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI to power the Missouri State attack.

 

With the victory, Evansville evens its record at 20-20 and improves to 7-9 in the MVC. Missouri State, meanwhile, slips to 23-16 overall and 9-3 in the Valley. The two teams will continue the series on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at Braun Stadium, with Missouri State junior LHP Buddy Baumann (7-0, 1.62 ERA) scheduled to square off with UE junior RHP Keegan Dennis (1-2, 6.96 ERA) on the mound.