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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team erased an early 2-0 deficit to defeat visiting Bradley, 5-2, Friday night at Braun Stadium in Missouri Valley Conference play.  With the Purple Aces' win over the Braves and Dallas Baptist's loss at Indiana State, UE now finds itself in sole possession of first place in the MVC standings.
 
Senior Jake Mahon led Evansville (26-14, 7-3 MVC) at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.  Junior Kevin Kaczmarski also drove in a pair of runs and sophomore Jonathan Ramon tallied the Aces' lone extra-base hit by going 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
 
Junior Kyle Freeland (8-1) picked up his seventh-straight victory on the mound, as the Denver, Colo., native allowed two runs on five hits over 7.2 innings.  Freeland tallied 10 strikeouts and walked multiple hitters for the first time this season by issuing two free passes.  Senior Sam Johns retired all four batters he faced to earn his eighth save of the year.
 
Bradley (21-17, 4-9 MVC) scored the first runs of the contest in the top half of the fourth, as the Braves scored a pair of runs on four hits to take a 2-0 lead.  Max Murphy started the BU rally with a sharp double to left and scored when Greg Partyka drove a full-count pitch back up the middle of the diamond for an RBI single.  Partyka later scored on a two-out single off the bat of Austin Jarvis.
 
UE got a run back in its half of the fourth by taking advantage of a pair of Bradley miscues.  Mahon led off the inning with a single, but ended up on third, after Brave left fielder Brady Wilkin misplayed the ground ball to allow Mahon to reach second, before making an overthrow that allowed Mahon to scamper to third.  Kaczmarski followed by lifting a ball to shallow left that ended up being deep enough to score Mahon from third and cutting BU's lead to 2-1.
 
Evansville took the lead for good in the bottom half of the fifth, once again taking advantage of a Bradley error.  With one out in the inning, Ramon was able to reach on a high throw by the BU shortstop, before sophomore Shain Showers followed with a looping single to left.  Sophomore Josh Jyawook continued the frame by drawing a two-out walk, before Mahon drove in two runs with a single left and Kaczmarski added another tally with a hard grounder through the right side, giving the Aces a 4-2 advantage.
 
UE added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, when junior Jarod Perry was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a ground out and stole third, before eventually scoring on a wild pitch out of the hand of Bradley reliever David Koll.
 
Freeland ran into a bit of trouble in the eighth, as he exited with runners on the corners with two outs and the tying run at the plate in the form of Tyler Leffler.  Johns came out of the pen and struck out Leffler to end the threat, before tossing a perfect top half of the ninth to earn the save.
 
Elliot Ashbeck (5-2) was the tough-luck loser for the Braves, as he allowed four runs, all unearned, on six hits over 6.0 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. 
 
Evansville and BU will continue the three-game series tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Braun Stadium.  Sophomore Connor Strain is scheduled to take the mound tomorrow for the Aces, while Steve Adkins is slated to toe the rubber for Bradley.