Box Score

JONESBORO, Ark. – The University of Evansville baseball team lost another close game to Arkansas State Sunday afternoon, falling 3-2 at Tomlinson Stadium. The Red Wolves won the series 3-1, as the Aces’ record dropped to 2-4 on the year.

 “We’re early in the season trying to figure out how to win ball games with a young club,” said head coach Wes Carroll. “Offensively we only got four hits and that’s tough to win with.

“Kyle Freeland got a good start under his belt on the mound and gave us a chance, but we just didn’t get over the hump. Hopefully learning from these close losses early in the season will only help us later on,” added Carroll.

For the fourth straight game, Evansville struck onto the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Jake Mahon reached on a two-out walk and scored as David Patton and Michael Eckstein recorded back-to-back singles into the outfield.

However, the Red Wolves evened the score with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth. Alex Potts reached on an infield error and scored on Scott Levy’s double to right field with one out.

A-State took the lead in the next inning, 2-1, as Zach George reached on a walk, and scored from first on Logan Uxa’s RBI double down the first base line.

ASU tallied an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with another unearned run to make it 3-1. Michael Faulkner reached on a walk, advanced to second on a pass ball, advanced to third on a fly out, and scored on Ryan Emery’s single up the middle.

The Aces threatened in the top of the ninth, putting runners on first and second with no outs after Kevin Kaczmarski reached on an infield error and Kyle Pollock singled up the middle. However, closer John Koch forced a double play; Kaczmarski advanced to third. With Mahon at the plate, Kaczmarkski scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one. Unfortunately, Koch got the groundball out for his third save of the series.

Freeland (0-1) took the loss, tossing six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, four hits, three walks, while striking out two. Sophomore Ryan Billo came out of the bullpen to hurl 1.1 innings, giving up one run, one hit, and two walks. Junior Josh Biggs recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning for UE, recording a strikeout and groundball out to end the side.

Reliever Seth McWilliams (1-0) recorded the win for ASU, throwing the fifth through seventh innings, allowing no hits. Starter Chris Kerwood took the no-decision (4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K).

As the teams combined for nine hits total in the game, Evansville was led offensively by Chris Pearson (1-4), Pollock (1-4), Patton (1-3) and Eckstein (1-3).

The Aces are back in action Wednesday when they travel to UT Martin for a 4:00 p.m. CT start. UE also has its home-opener this week when they host the Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic at Charles Braun Stadium, Friday through Sunday. IPFW and Eastern Illinois will be the other teams in attendance.