BOX SCORE

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team got an outstanding performance from junior starter Cole Isom on the mound and seven Purple Aces recorded a hit in UE’s 6-1 victory over visiting UT Martin in a non-conference game Tuesday night at Braun Stadium.
 
Isom (2-4) retired the first nine batters he faced and scattered six hits in his 8.0 innings of work to pick up the victory.  The junior lefty allowed a lone run in the fifth and struck out six Skyhawks without issuing a walk.
 
“We got a great pitching effort from Cole Isom tonight,” head coach Wes Carroll said.  “He came out and really commanded the entire game.  I felt like he was in complete control, he worked both sides of the plate and gave us an overall quality start.”
 
Senior Jason Hockemeyer led Evansville (12-16) at the plate, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored, a walk and a hit by pitch in his five plate appearances.  Redshirt junior Johnny Day also drove in a pair of runs and scored another in a 1-for-3 effort, while redshirt sophomore Kevin Kaczmarski turned in a 3-for-5 performance and junior David Patton finished 2-for-5.
 
“We had quality at-bats throughout the lineup and it was great to see Jason Hockemeyer have a huge game for us by going 3-for-3 with two RBI,” Carroll said.  “Johnny Day delivered a big two-run single and it was huge for us.  We need to have guys in the middle of our lineup that can give us quality at-bats with runners in scoring position.”
 
The Aces scored the first six runs of the ballgame and plated their first in the bottom of the second.  Hockemeyer led off the inning with a double down the right field line and scored on a two-out single off the bat of freshman Shain Showers to give UE the early 1-0 advantage.
 
Evansville gave Isom some more run support in the third by scoring four more runs on five hits.  Hockemeyer tallied his second hit of the game, scoring  Patton with an RBI single to left, before Day extended the Aces’ margin to 4-0 with a two-run single to center.  Sophomore Kyle Pollock capped the inning with a two-out single through the left side that scored Day from second and made the score 5-0.
 
UE scored its final run with a two-out rally in its half of the fourth, as Kaczmarski doubled to deep right and later scored on a Hockemeyer single to left, following a walk to junior Jake Mahon.
 
UT Martin got a leadoff double from Wade Collins to start the top of the fifth and scored its only run of the contest, when Collins came around to score on a Matt Young single to left that made the score 6-1.
 
Isom responded by shutting down the Skyhawks over the next three innings, before sophomore Forrest Herrmann took over on the hill and tossed a scoreless ninth.
 
John Houston (1-5) suffered the loss for UTM, allowing five runs in just 2.2 innings, while striking out two and walking one.
 
Evansville will travel to Belmont Wednesday night for a 6 p.m. game in Nashville, Tenn., before opening a Missouri Valley Conference series Friday at 6 p.m. against Southern Illinois at Braun Stadium.