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ST. LOUIS, Mo.--The University of Evansville baseball team jumped out to an early 6-2 lead on Wednesday, but the host Saint Louis University Billikens were able to rally behind the strength of three middle-inning home runs to post an 8-7 victory over the Purple Aces at the Billiken Sports Complex in St. Louis, Missouri.
Evansville jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to RBI base hits by junior outfielder Greg Wallace and freshman catcher John Day. The Billikens would respond with two runs in the bottom of the frame, but UE would counter with a two-run home run by junior first baseman Cody Fick to retake a three-run lead at 5-2 in the third inning.
UE would expand the lead to 6-2 in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Wallace, before the Billikens would begin to chip away at the UE lead. Two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning cut the UE lead back to 6-4, and that’s when Saint Louis would flex its muscle with three home runs over the next two frames.
A solo home run in the fifth inning by senior designated hitter David Blackwell would begin the power surge, before senior first baseman Danny Brock and junior third baseman Jon Myers would hit back-to-back home runs off of UE reliever Sean McCarthy (0-1) in the sixth inning to stake Saint Louis to an 8-6 lead. For Brock, it was his team-leading ninth home run of the year, while for Myers, it was his seventh home run of the season.
Day would bring Evansville back within a single run in the seventh inning with a two-out RBI single to cut the deficit to 8-7. UE would put a runner on base in each of the last two innings, including putting freshman speedster Eric Stamets into scoring position in the eighth inning, but Saint Louis reliever Jason Bell held UE scoreless over the last two frames to earn his first save of the season. Starter Alex Alemann (1-2) scattered seven runs (five earned) on 12 base hits in 7.0 innings of work to earn the victory for the Billikens.
“This is a tough loss to swallow because we were in control of the game early and then just let it slip away,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “I thought things really turned momentum-wise in the fourth inning. We loaded the bases with only one out for the heart of our order, and we only came away with one run. Then, Saint Louis comes up and scores two and were right back into things, and we were just never able to string the hits together that we needed to after that point.”
Stamets paced Evansville at the top of the batting order by going 3-for-5 with three stolen bases in three attempts. He is now a perfect 17-for-17 in the stolen base department on the year, despite today’s game being just the 18th of the season for the Purple Aces. Day also had three hits and two RBI for UE, while Wallace and sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland both had two hits, and Wallace added two runs scored and two RBI. Myers and second baseman Zach Miller both had three hits apiece for Saint Louis, with Myers driving in four of SLU’s eight runs on the afternoon.
With the victory, Saint Louis evens its record at 9-9. Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 7-11 on the year with loss. UE will return home now to host SIU Edwardsville in a three-game series this weekend at Charles H. Braun Stadium on campus. The series begins Friday night at 6:00 p.m. and continues on Saturday (2:00 p.m.) and Sunday (1:00 p.m.)?afternoon.
