EVANSVILLE - Quickly becoming a theme for the Aces, the University of Evansville baseball team battled back to walk-off with an 11-10 win in 10 innings over Western Illinois in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

The win helped secure the second series win of the season for the Aces and moved UE back to .500 at 6-6 on the year.

"I'm so proud of our club and our team. In year's past, our last nine outs of the game, we would've just walked through and accepted a split with Western Illinois," said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. "I was really proud of our club stepping-up from an offensive standpoint and showing a lot of fight."

The Leathernecks got off to a quick start as three of the first batters in the top of the first inning reached base, but Western Illinois was limited to just one run in the inning. In the second frame, WIU added two more runs to open up a 3-0 lead on the Aces.

Evansville answered in the bottom of the second as the scoring got started for the Aces when senior Craig Shepherd scored in the midst of a double play. The Aces trimmed their deficit further in the third with freshman Mark Shallenberger scoring on a groundout by junior Mason Brinkley to make it a 3-2 WIU lead.

The fifth inning appeared to be the finishing touches from Western Illinois as the Leathernecks pushed across five runs to increase their lead to 8-2.

What has been true for the Aces all season is that no lead is safe with Evansville's offense. After watching WIU put a five spot up in the top half of the inning, the Aces put up their own five spot in the bottom half. Senior Kenton Crews got the scoring started with a base hit through the left side that sent Brinkley and freshman Simon Scherry home. Redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith added a pair of runs for Evansville later in the half inning with a single to left that scored Crews and senior Ben Komonosky. The final run of the inning came off the bat of Shallenberger, who roped a single through the left side, pushing Beilsmith home to cut the Western Illinois lead to just one at 8-7.

After some early pitching struggles by the Aces staff, sophomore Michael Parks came in and steadied the team. After a wild fifth inning, Parks struck-out the side in the sixth and came back in the seventh to sit the Leathernecks down in order.

"Michael Parks gave us a chance," said Carroll on the reliever. "He came in there and really threw up some goose eggs when we needed it and gave our offense a chance to scrap by and get some important quality at-bats."

In the eighth inning, the Leathernecks looked to have done it again, pushing the game out of reach with two runs, increasing their lead to 10-7. Down to their final few outs, Evansville delivered the runs it needed. Sophomore Danny Borgstrom opened the inning with a triple and scored the inning's opening run on a wild pitch. After Beilsmith walked and Shallenberger was hit by a pitch, it was again Scherry who stepped up. The freshman ripped a basehit to right center scoring both Borgstrom and Shallenberger, tying the game at 10 and sending the contest into extra innings.

Freshman pitcher Jakob Meyer escaped a difficult situation in the 10th with the international tiebreaker placing a Leatherneck runner at second to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt moved to go-ahead run to third with just one out, but Meyer slammed the door with back-to-back swinging strikeouts.

With senior Craig Shepherd opening the inning at second, Evansville got to work quickly. Junior Mason Brinkley led off the inning with a walk before Komonosky struck out. Junior Evan Kahre followed-up with another walk, loading the base with just one out. Looking to follow up his walk-off win 24 hours prior, Borgstrom did just that. The Morris, Ill. native popped a fly ball into left field and as the Leatherneck left fielder and center fielder each tracked the ball a miscommunication led to the ball falling safely to the turf. Shepherd, prepared to take off, sprinted home, reaching safely and earning the 11-10 extra-innings win for the Aces.

"Danny Borgstrom's been on fire all weekend and locked-in at the plate," remarked Carroll on the sophomore's weekend at the dish.

The walk-off win was Evansville's second in as many days and the third of the season for the Aces.

Evansville opens Missouri Valley Conference play with a four-game series on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday against undefeated SIU in Carbondale, Ill.
 

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