EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Evansville baseball team rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Sunday and four more in the bottom of the eighth to complete a three-game series sweep of the visiting Arkansas State University Red Wolves with a 9-5 victory at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

 

After Evansville jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI ground out by junior infielder Cody Fick and an RBI single by sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland, the Red Wolves responded with five runs over the next five innings to grab a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. That’s when UE would rally for the third time on the weekend to pick up its fifth win in a row and 17th victory in the last 24 contests.

 

Fick began UE’s rally with a towering two-run home run to left field in the sixth inning, for his team-leading ninth home run of the year. Copeland would then follow with a bunt base hit, and after a sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position, junior outfielder Nate Smith drove him home with a triple to center field to tie the game at 5-5.

 

Senior reliever Corey Davisson (5-1) would yield just a two-out hit-by-pitch over the next two innings to keep the score tied at 5-5, before UE would explode for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take control of the contest.

 

A one-out hit-by-pitch and a single by Smith would put two men on base and force Arkansas State to go to its closer John Koch to try and work out of the jam. Junior designated hitter Shawn Kuester greeted Koch with an RBI single through the hole on the right side of the ASU infield to give UE a 6-5 lead. A run-scoring sacrifice bunt by senior outfielder Alex Acheson would push the lead to 7-5, before junior outfielder Greg Wallace belted a two-run double to the gap in left-center field to cap UE’s scoring. Davisson then work around a two-out single in the ninth inning to slam the door on the victory.

 

“Our guys just continue to find ways to win, and today, I was really proud of the way that they battled,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “We were down 5-2 with just 12 outs to go, but our guys found a way, and Corey Davisson was huge in the center of the diamond, tossing shutout innings in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings when it was winning time.

 

“This was a huge weekend for our program, because Arkansas State is a very good team. They were a team that was receiving votes in the national polls last week, and for us to come out and play the way that we did this weekend is hopefully a great sign of things to come down the stretch. I felt like we really had all three phases of the game going this weekend, as our pitchers did a good job of throwing strikes on the mound, our hitters were really dialed in, and our defense continued to be exceptional as it has all year. Hopefully, we can keep this rolling this week.”

 

Smith went 3-for-3 with an RBI triple and a pair of singles to lead UE’s 11-hit attack. Fick also went 2-for-4 with a home run and team-best three RBI, while Copeland and Wallace both had two-hit efforts as well. ASU first baseman Murray Watts paced the Red Wolves offensively by going 3-for-4 with his team-leading sixth home run of the year and three RBI.

 

Davisson earned the victory on the mound by tossing a career-high 4.1 innings of one-run, two-hit relief, while striking out three. Reliever Cody Powell (0-1) suffered the loss by yielding two runs on two hits in 0.2 innings of work in UE’s four-run eighth inning.

 

With the victory, Evansville improves to 20-16 overall. Arkansas State, meanwhile, falls to 22-14 overall with the loss. The Purple Aces will return to Braun Stadium on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. when UE will host Division II crosstown power Southern Indiana in another installment of the “Battle At The Braun” series. Tuesday’s game can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.