BOX SCORE

PEORIA, Ill. – The University of Evansville baseball team needed just seven innings to post a 10-0 shutout of Bradley Friday night in Missouri Valley Conference action.  Sophomore Kyle Freeland tossed a complete-game shutout and struck out nine, while the Purple Aces’ offense tallied 13 hits in the victory at Peoria Chiefs Stadium in Peoria, Ill.
 
Junior Jake Mahon went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while senior Chris Pearson drove in three runs with a three-run blast to lead Evansville (10-15, 2-2 MVC) offensively.  Redshirt junior Nick Hathcoat also finished the night with three hits, while redshirt junior Johnny Day drove in a pair of runs with a 2-for-4 effort.

“We had a lot of guys deliver consistently tonight with good at-bats by driving the ball and competing at the plate,” head coach Wes Carroll said.  “We got two-out RBIs and two-strike hits, and that is key for a good offensive unit.  Hopefully this is a sign that we are getting on a roll offensively, because we have do have talent in our lineup, we just need it be consistent.”
 
Freeland (2-4) allowed just four hits in the complete-game victory and issued just two walks in his 7.0 innings on the mound.

“Freeland gave us a fantastic effort,” Carroll said.  “When we talk about the success of our program, it begins on the mound.  Any time we get that kind of effort from our starting pitcher we are going to be in a good position to win.”
 
The Aces took control early in the contest with a three-run third, as five-straight UE players reached base to start the inning. Hathcoat started the rally with a leadoff single to left and later scored on an RBI single by Mahon, after junior David Patton coaxed a walk and redshirt sophomore Kevin Kaczmarski reached on a bunt single.  Senior Jason Hockemeyer brought in Evansville’s second run when he was hit by a pitch and Kaczmarski made the score 3-0 by scoring on a double play ball off the bat of Pearson.
 
UE once again got the leadoff man aboard in the fourth, as Day singled through the ride side and scored on a two-out double from Patton to extend Evansville’s lead to 4-0.
 
The Aces blew the game open by putting up three more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to make the final score 10-0.  In the fifth, Day drove in a pair of runs with a double to left center and freshman Shain Showers added a run with a sacrifice fly to center.  Pearson’s homer in the sixth plated UE’s final three runs, as he brought around Mahon and Hockemeyer, who went 1-for-1 on the night, but reached base in all four of his at-bats, as he was hit by two pitches and drew a walk.
 
Bradley (9-12, 0-1 MVC), who entered the game as the MVC’s second-best hitting team, only saw one of its runners advance beyond second base with its best chance to score coming in the bottom of the sixth.  Freeland issued a walk to Chris Godinez and hit Mike Tauchman with an 0-1 offering to put runners on first and second with no outs.  However, Freeland escaped the jam and preserved the shutout by getting Max Murphy to line out to center and Greg Partyka to ground into an inning-ending double play.

“As a program we needed to come out here and make a statement tonight after last weekend and the tough loss we had at Western Kentucky,” Carroll added.  “To come out here and really explode with our bats, get a great, quality start on the mound and put up a zero in the error column resulted in a really big win for us.”
 
The Aces and the Braves will continue the series Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest.  UE is slated to start senior Kyle Lloyd (3-2), while BU will counter with lefty David Koll (1-2).