GAME 1 BOX
GAME 2 BOX

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team scored 15 runs on a season-high 20 hits in a 15-1 win in the nightcap of its doubleheader with visiting Purdue Saturday afternoon at Braun Stadium, but the Boilermakers captured the opener, 4-1, to take the series.
 
“We got three quality starts from our pitchers this weekend, we just couldn’t get the two-out, RBI hits that we needed,” head coach Wes Carroll said.  “As a team, we have to learn how to win the close games.  This was another series that we gave away, because we weren’t able to win close games and we have to correct that before we get into conference play.”
 
Five Evansville (7-11) players finished the twin bill  with four hits, including senior Jason Hockemeyer, who went 4-for-6 with a pair of walks and got bit by a pitch, and junior David Patton, who finished 4-for-9 at the plate with four RBI and a run scored.  Junior Jake Mahon tallied four hits in 10 at bats and drove in three runs, and senior Andy Lasher scored four runs and turned in a 4-for-9 performance.
 
Junior lefty Cole Isom (1-3) allowed just one run on six hits over 6.2 innings of work in the nightcap to earn the win on the mound.  In game one, senior Kyle Lloyd (2-2) scattered just four hits and struck out a career-high 12 Purdue hitters, but the Boilermakers were able to manufacture four runs to saddle Lloyd with the loss.
 
GAME ONE RECAP:  PURDUE 4, EVANSVILLE 1
 
Lloyd and Purdue starter Jordan Minch were engaged in a pitcher’s duel for most of the game, as neither team managed a hit until the fifth inning and Lloyd retired 16-straight Boilermakers, after issuing a walk to start the game.
 
Patton recorded the first hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out, infield single.  He advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third, but was stranded, as Minch pitched around a two-out walk to redshirt sophomore Kevin Kaczmarski and struck out Mahon to end the inning.
 
Purdue ended the scoring drought with a pair of back-to-back, two-out hits in the top half of the six to grab a 2-0 lead.  Kyle Wood came through with the clutch hit for the Boilers, scoring both runs with a double to right center.
 
The Aces got a run back in the bottom of the seventh to cut Purdue’s lead to 2-1.  Lasher singled to left to start the frame and later advanced to third on a wild pitch and a throwing error by the Boilermaker catcher.  Patton drove in Lasher with a one-out single through the left side, but Purdue reliever Mike Lutz retired the next two hitters to limit Evansville to just the one run.
 
Conner Hudnall added a pair of insurance runs for Purdue in the top of the ninth with a two-run home run to right field and Robert Ramer stranded three Aces on base over the final two innings to earn the save for the Boilermakers.
 
Hockemeyer and Patton were the only two UE hitters to record multiple hits in the opener, as each went 2-for-4.
 
Minch did not give up a run and allowed just two hits in his 6.0 innings on the mound and struck out seven to notch the victory.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:  EVANSVILLE 15, PURDUE 1
 
Evansville scored in six of its eight trips to the plate in the nightcap and wasted no time getting on the board, as the Aces plated two runs in the first to take an early 2-0 lead.  Mahon doubled with one out in the inning and later scored on a throwing error.  Redshirt junior Johnny Day drove in UE’s second run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to center tha allowed sophomore Kyle Pollock to tag and score from third.
 
Kaczmarski drove in Lasher with a single to left in the second inning and senior Chris Pearson and freshman Shain Showers each knocked in runs in the third to put UE in front, 5-0, after three full innings.
 
Purdue scored its lone run in the fourth trim Evansville’s advantage to 5-1.  Stephen Talbott started the inning with a double and scored when the next batter, Josh Estill, singled up the middle.  Hudnall followed by coaxing a walk, but Isom was able to get out of the jam with a pair of fly balls and a strikeout.
 
The Aces got the run back in their half of the inning, when Hockemeyer drove in Kaczmarski with a single up the middle and UE was able to break open the game by putting three more runs on the board in the fifth.  Patton plated a run with a ground out, Kaczmarski drove home another with a double to right and Mahon capped the rally with an RBI single to right center to extend Evansville’s lead to 9-1.
 
In the eighth, the Aces exploded for six more runs on six hits to make the final tally 15-1.  Patton and Mahon each delivered two-run singles to highlight the inning.
 
UE’s top four hitters in the lineup combined for 11 hits and six RBI in the contest, as Mahon finished 4-for-6 and drove in three runs and was one of four Evansville players to record three or more hits.
 
Isom tossed 6.2 innings in the victory, allowing just one run on six hits and struck out a pair. 
 
The Aces will wrap up their six-game homestand Tuesday, March 19 with a single game against Murray State.  First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.