Box Score

JONESBORO, Ark. – The first inning has been the University of Evansville baseball team’s Achilles heel throughout the first four games of the season. The Aces fell into a 4-0 hole to start Friday night’s contest at Arkansas State, as the Red Wolves came away with a 10-5 victory. With the loss, UE dropped to 0-4 on the season, while A-State improved to 2-4 overall.

“It makes it really hard without our regular starters,” said Head Coach Wes Carroll, who was forced to look to his freshman hurlers to step into the rotation this weekend after the Aces’ number one and two pitchers, Sam Johns and Zach Taylor suffered extended injuries last week. “We had too many wild pitches and too many walks that resulted in runs for Arkansas State.”

Making his first start as a Purple Ace, freshman southpaw Cole Isom retired the first batter of the night, but Isom’s next test, Todd Baumgartner belted a solo home run to put the Red Wolves on the board in the bottom of the first. A-State scored three more in the opening frame on a hit, three walks, a hit-by-pitch, and wild pitch.

The Aces jumped in on the scoring action in the third, tallying an unearned run off starter Andy Ferguson when sophomore Eric Stamets singled home senior Shawn Kuester who reached on a bunted single but advanced a base on a throwing error. However, the Red Wolves answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning on a one-out double to make the score 5-1.

Evansville got the bats going again in the fourth as seniors Greg Wallace and Jared Baehl hit solo homers off vehicles parked outside the fence of right field. Unfortunately, A-State mirrored the Aces’ top-of-the-frame output, maintaining the four-run advantage. The Red Wolves loaded the bases with no outs prompting a pitching change. Freshman Ryan Billo relieved Isom who was credited with seven runs on six hits and five walks, while striking out two in 3.0 innings of work. Billo got his first batter out, but Arkansas State scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Aces were faced with a jam again in the fifth loading the bases, but Billo worked his way out of it unharmed, ringing up Jordan Castaldo for the third out. A-State stretched its lead to 9-3 in the sixth and added another run in the seventh, with back-to-back doubles to start off the bottom of the eighth. Billo pitched 2.1 innings, allowing two runs on a hit and four walks, while striking out two. Sophomore Jake Naumann came out of the bullpen in the sixth.

In the top of the eighth, #Cody Fick3 belted a one-out double putting himself in scoring position for Wallace. Wallace sliced a double to right-center, advancing Fick to third, but that is where they stayed as the Red Wolves’ defense retired the next two batters.

After freshman Sam Bohon hurled a scoreless eighth, sophomore Chris Pearson led off the ninth with a single, and with one out designated hitter Kuester made it first and second on a walk. Pearson moved to third on Stamets’ fielder’s choice. With Stamets on second after a stolen base, freshman Jake Mahon singled to right field, scoring two, but that was all the Aces would get.

Ferguson (1-1) earned the win for A-State, throwing 7.0 innings, while Isom (0-1) took the loss.

“Ferguson had a nice game for them,” said Carroll. “But, we didn’t capitalize offensively when we were given some opportunities.”

Wallace was the only Ace with multiple hits in the game, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run, while six other players tallied one hit.

The Aces have two more shots at the Red Wolves. First pitch tomorrow and Sunday are at 1:00 p.m. CST. Tomorrow’s time was bumped to earlier in the day after originally being scheduled for 4:00 p.m.