EVANSVILLE - Eyeing a sweep, the University of Evansville baseball team battled in a 7-4 loss to NIU in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

"NIU did a great job on the mound and at the plate against us today. The big inning was too much to come back from," said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. "It was great to win the series though and we have a lot of baseball to play this upcoming week with 5 games in 5 days. A lot of great takeaways from this weekend."

Evansville struck first offensively, scoring the game's opening run in the bottom of the second inning. With a pair of Aces in scoring position, a wild pitch by the Huskies scored sophomore Danny Borgstrom to give Evansville the 1-0 lead.

The aforementioned big inning for NIU came in the top of the fourth as the Huskies scored five runs in the inning, including three on a home run to left center field by Jack Blazevich. Evansville answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning as freshman Max Malley lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Borgstrom again.

In the fifth, NIU added two more runs on a single and a sacrifice fly to increase the Huskies lead to 7-2. The Aces slowly pushed closer, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to close within three runs.

In the bottom of the ninth, Evansville appeared to be replicating its magic from Friday night as senior Craig Shepherd opened the half inning with a base-hit. Following Shepherd's single, NIU pitcher Brandon McPherson recorded three-straight outs to end the game and give the Huskies a 7-4 win.

Evansville has a busy week ahead with a single game at Kentucky on Wednesday and a four-game set this weekend against Western Illinois at German American Bank Field on Friday through Sunday.
 

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