EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Evansville baseball team pounded out five extra-base hits en route to a game one victory over the visiting Austin Peay State Governors in a Tuesday doubleheader at UE’s Charles H. Braun Stadium, but the Purple Aces were held to just five hits total in the nightcap, as the two teams split the double-dip by scores of 11-7 and 13-2.

 

In both games, Austin Peay jumped to an early lead in the first inning, as the Governors scored three runs in the opener and four runs in the nightcap. The difference between the two games was how UE responded.

 

In the opener, Evansville answered right back with three runs of its own to tie the game at 3-3 on a sacrifice fly by sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland, a run-scoring balk, and an RBI single by senior first baseman Tom Heithoff.

 

After Austin Peay would plate four runs in the second inning of the opener, UE would erupt for two runs in the second, four runs in the third and two more runs in the fifth on solo home runs by freshman shortstop Eric Stamets and junior third baseman Cody Fick to score eight unanswered runs en route to an 11-7 victory. Sophomore left-hander Seth McCabe (4-1) earned the victory by tossing 5.0 shutout innings of relief work while scattering six hits and striking out three. Fick led the way in the opener, going 3-for-3 with a single, a double, a home run, two runs scored, and two RBI, while junior outfielder Greg Wallace also drove in two runs to break UE’s single-season record for RBI with 68.

 

In the nightcap, though, there was no UE answer to a four-run first inning by Austin Peay. Stamets led off the bottom of the first inning with a double, and later stole third base for his Missouri Valley Conference-best 39th stolen base of the year, but he was stranded there as APSU starter Eric Davis (3-1) struck out a pair in the frame.

 

The teams would trade runs in the second inning to move the score to 5-1, before the Governors batted around in the fourth inning to plate five runs and move the score to 10-1. Consecutive RBI extra-base hits by second baseman Jon Clinard (triple), outfielder Jared DeLong (double) and designated hitter Matt Kole (triple) ignited the five-run rally and put the game out of reach. Kole led seven Governors with multi-hit efforts in the nightcap by going 3-for-5, while DeLong had two hits and drove in three runs.

 

“I thought in the first game, we really did a good job of competing in the batter’s box, and Seth McCabe did a great job of battling on the mound to help us pick up the victory,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “But, in the second game, I didn’t see the same kind of fight in the batter’s box or on the mound and Austin Peay made us pay.

 

“At least we were able to get one win on the day. Now, hopefully, we can put this game two performance behind us and be ready for a tough series at Southern Illinois this weekend.”

 

With the doubleheader split, Evansville sees its record move to 27-22 on the season. Austin Peay, meanwhile, remains at the .500 mark with a 23-23 overall record. Evansville will now travel to Carbondale, Illinois this weekend to take on long-time MVC rival Southern Illinois in a three-game conference series. The series begins Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. and continues on both Saturday (2:00 p.m.) and Sunday (1:00 p.m.) with all three games being on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.