LYNCHBURG, Va. – The University of Evansville baseball team may boast of one of the potent line-ups in the Missouri Valley so far this season, but on Friday afternoon, the Purple Aces rode a strong start on the mound from Patrick Schnieders to a seventh consecutive victory, beating Central Connecticut State 5-0 at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
"It was all about pitching today," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "Patrick came out and just dominated from pitch one. He really set the tone for us, and I think our pitching is starting to come around. We've had some solid starts, but we needed something like this. Patrick commanded the game, and put everyone on his back today."
Schnieders, who improved to 1-1 on the year, put together his third consecutive start of allowing one or fewer earned runs. The junior right-hander surrendered just three hits over seven innings and struck out 10 in the process. The outing gave the Aces (8-4) their first shutout victory of the season.
A string of miscues from CCSU starter Andrew Hinckley allowed the Aces on the board in the first inning as Travis Tokarek was hit by an errant 0-2 pitch top lead off the inning. He'd move into scoring position after a failed pick-off attempt, and a four-pitch walk to Nate Reeder set the stage for Trey Hair, who laced a two-out double to left center to bring in a pair of runs for UE.
From there, it became very much a pitching duel over the ensuing innings, with Schnieders picking up what might have been the most important out in the game in the bottom of the fifth, inducing a ground ball to work out of a bases loaded jam and keep the Blue Devils (4-4) off the scoreboard.
A Boomer Synek single in the eighth and a pair of ninth-inning doubles from Shain Showers and Eric McKibban cashed in three insurance runs to account for the game's final score.
In all, five Aces players would finish with a hit, with four going for extra bases.
UE will return to action in Lynchburg on Friday as the Aces will take on host Liberty at 1 p.m. Eastern before closing out the day with another showdown against CCSU.
NOTES: UE's seven-game winning streak is the longest since March 13-23, 2007 … A win in Saturday's opener would give the Aces their longest streak since a 10-game stretch from April 30 – May 20, 2006 … Friday marked the first shutout victory for the Aces since a 10-0 seven-inning win over Bradley on April 26, 2015 … The last time UE shut out an opponent over nine innings was a 1-0 decision versus Missouri State on May 15, 2014 … That game against MSU was also the last time a UE pitcher recorded 10 strikeouts as former All-American Kyle Freeland fanned 11 over seven innings … The Aces have come back from three or more runs to win in three of their last six games … This weekend marks the first-ever contests between UE and both Central Connecticut and Liberty … Since 1978, the Aces are 3-0 against schools that hail from the state of Connecticut and 2-8 versus those from the state of Virginia.
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