PEORIA, Ill. – Justin Hayden gave the University of Evansville baseball team everything it needed on the mound on Sunday, and the line-up made it count as the Aces picked up an 8-2 victory over Bradley at Dozer Park.
"What a great effort from Justin today," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "He's an extremely competitive guy, and with him toeing the rubber, it felt like it was the World Series. He was locked in from the first pitch, and all in all, he was outstanding. The effort that he had today was much needed, and he was playing with a lot of passion. It was great to see."
The win secures a second Missouri Valley Conference series victory for the Aces as the team took two out of three from the Braves to improve to 15-31 with a 6-8 mark in league play. Bradley, meanwhile, dropped to 19-25 and 5-10 in the MVC.
Hayden, who saw his scoreless streak snapped at 15 innings, was excellent on the mound, tossing seven innings while giving up just five hits and a pair of runs. The Mayfield, Ky., native is now 4-5 on the season.
At the plate, opportunistic hitting was the story of the day for the Aces, and it began early as a two-out base hit by Travis Tokarek cashed in the game's opening run. Bradley would reclaim the score before a double steal in the third set the stage for back-to-back run-scoring singles from Craig Shepherd and Kenton Crews.
Shepherd ended 2-for-4 at the plate, and Crews was 1-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Tokarek finished 1-for-3 with a pair of walks, taking his team-best on-base streak out to 19 games.
Crews went on to bring another home with a sac fly in the fifth before Nate Reeder batted in a pair to make it 6-1. Both teams added a run in the sixth before Reeder singled in another an inning later to account for the final score.
Reeder finished the day 3-for-5 at the plate, and as a team, the Aces out-hit the Braves 11-6.
Bradley's Alex Gray was on the hook for the first three runs, and with the loss, he dropped to 0-3 on the season. Offensively, Andrew Ivelia led Bradley, ending 2-for-3.
UE will return to action on Tuesday with a trip to Austin Peay.
NOTES: Prior to Saturday's loss, UE had won four consecutive MVC road games … Since 1978, UE is 52-40 against Bradley, which includes a 22-19 mark in Peoria … In league play, the Aces own a 47-30 mark against the Braves … In that timespan, the Aces are 254-228 against schools from the state of Illinois … Since 1987, the Aces are 226-192 in the month of May.
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