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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Evansville pitchers combined to allow just one run in 16 innings Saturday at Braun Stadium, as the Purple Aces swept Illinois State in a doubleheader, 12-0 and 3-1.  With its two victories, UE now leads the Missouri Valley Conference stands by two games over second-place Indiana State with just four games remaining in conference play.
 
Junior Kyle Freeland (9-1) tossed a seven-inning, complete-game shutout for Evansville (32-17, 13-4 MVC) in the opener, as the Denver, Colo., native surrendered just four hits, all singles, and struck out five without issuing a walk.  Freeland did not allow an Illinois State (30-17, 10-7 MVC) runner past second base and did not allow multiple base runners in any of his seven innings of work.
 
Senior Cole Isom (6-4) turned in an impressive outing in the nightcap, allowing just one run on six hits with two strikeouts and a pair of walks in 7.0 innings to record his third-straight quality start.  Sophomore Brent Jurceka stranded a pair of runners in the eighth and senior Sam Johns notched his 10th save of the year with a perfect ninth.
 
Offensively, junior Boomer Synek led the Aces by going 3-for-6 with a double, a home run and five RBI, including a three-run blast in the opener, while senior Jake Mahon also tallied three hits in six at bats to drive in four runs and score three more.  Junior Kyle Pollock turned in a 4-for-8 night with a double and two RBI and fellow junior Jarod Perry finished the twin bill 3-for-6 with two runs scored and was hit by his 23rd pitch of the season, tying him with Alex Acheson for UE's single-season record in that category.
 
GAME 1 RECAP:  EVANSVILLE 12, ILLINOIS STATE 0 (7 INN.)
Evansville jumped on Illinois State starter Dan Savas (7-4) in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, as the Aces plated three runs on three-straight hits to take a 3-0 lead.  Mahon reached on an error to start the rally, before junior Kevin Kaczmarski followed with an infield single and Pollock doubled to the warning track in straight-away center to score Mahon.  One batter later, Synek cleared the bags with a two-run double down the right field line.
 
UE tacked on another run in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Shain Showers, before Synek drove a ball over the fence in right to plate three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, opening up a 7-0 Evansville advantage.
 
Mahon plated senior Johnny Day with a sacrifice fly in the fifth to put the Aces' in front 8-0, before Evansville erupted for four more runs in its half of the sixth to make the final score, 12-0.  Mahon tallied his second, third and fourth RBI of the game with a three-run double and Kaczmarski capped the scoring with an RBI single through the right side.
 
On the mound, Freeland needed just 69 pitches to earn the victory, as quickly ended any thoughts of an Illinois State rally by erasing two leadoff singles by inducing double-play balls in both he fourth and fifth innings, before sitting the Redbirds down in order in the sixth.
 
GAME 2 RECAP:  EVANSVILLE 3, ILLINOIS STATE 1
In the nightcap, Evansville pushed across a run in the bottom of the first to grab an early 1-0 lead, when Kaczmarski and Pollock delivered back-to-back two-out hits.  Kaczmarski singled to right center, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Pollock single up the middle.
 
Illinois State scored its only run of the night in the top of the third, when Dennis Colon led off the frame with a soft single to center and later scored on Mike Hollenbeck's chopper up the middle to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Aces answered with a run on their half of the third, when Kaczmarski scored Perry with a sacrifice fly to center and regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double from Showers.  After Synek led off the inning with a single and was erased on a double play, sophomore Eric McKibban reached on an infield single on a bounding ball up the first base line, before he scampered home on Showers' line drive to the gap in left center.
 
ISU put a pair of runners on the base paths in the top of the eighth, before Jurceka worked out of the jam by getting Jack Czeszewski to bounce into an inning-ending out to first and Johns struck out two in a perfect ninth to cap a 3-1 Evansville victory.
 
The Aces will go for the sweep of the Redbirds tomorrow after at 1 p.m. on what will be Senior Day.  In addition, all moms will receive free admission to the game as part of Mother's Day.  UE will send Matt Rodgers to the mound to face the Redbirds' Jeremy Rhoades.