EVANSVILLE - Powered by a pair of eighth inning homers, the University of Evansville baseball team earned a 13-3 run-rule victory in eight innings over South Dakota State on Friday night at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.

"That was the most electric arm we have faced this year so I'm proud of our hitters for making an adjustment the second time through the order," said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll. "Always great to see an offensive explosion with big RBI's from Crews, Beilsmith and Scherry. Gray, Parks and Dominik did a great job giving us a chance to win."

The game began with a pitchers duel as Evansville's Shane Gray and SDSU's Adam Mazur combined to record 11 strikeouts in the last 12 outs. In the second inning, the Jackrabbits took an early lead, as a one-out double that put the runner on third due to an error was followed by base-hit that scored a run to give SDSU a 1-0 lead.

Evansville's offense going in the bottom of the fourth as redshirt junior Kenton Crews earned a walk to leadoff the inning and quickly stole second. A double down the left field line by redshirt senior Troy Beilsmith scored Crews, tying the game at one. Afte freshman Mark Shallenberger recorded a single to move Beilsmith to third, the Aces got back-to-back RBIs from freshman Simon Scherry and junior Eric Roberts to put UE in front, 3-1.

Gray's day on the mound came to an end after the fifth inning as the starter tallied a new career-high with 10 strikeouts, while not allowing an earned run in five innings of work.

The Aces tacked-on two more runs on to their total in the fifth as Beilsmith ripped a two-run single to left that brought home Crews and freshman Brent Widder.

The trend continue for Evansville in the sixth as Scherry walker and stole second to open the inning, followed by a walk for Roberts that chased the Jackrabbits starter. After senior Craig Shepherd reached on a fielder's choice that resulted in no outs, SDSU got back-to-back strikeouts looking to end the threat. Crews continued his monster day, stepping to the plate and sending a two-RBI double to center, scoring Scherry and Roberts to boost the Aces lead to 7-1.

In the top of the seventh, junior Michael Parks allowed his first earned runs since March 7 as the Jacks delivered a pair of runs to trim Evansville's lead to 7-3.

As was true in Sunday's win over Xavier, a big offensive inning proved to be the deciding factor in the Aces win. In the eighth, senior Ben Komonosky drew his 10th hit-by-pitch of the season with one out. Crews responded, capping his day with a two-run blast to left field to give Evansville a 9-3 advantage. Following Crews' homer, Evansville got three free passes with Beilsmith and junior Tanner Craig getting hit by a pitch and Shallenberger garnering a walk to load the bases. With the 10-run rule in effect, Scherry ended the game with one swing, driving a full count pitch into the netting in left field which prevented the ball fromr eaching the Lloyd Expressway, for a grand slam and handing the Aces a 13-3 win in eight innings.

Evansville and SDSU meet for a doubleheader on Saturday beginning with first pitch in game one at 1 PM at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
 

• INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville athletics, visit GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics.

 

• FUTURE UNAFRAID: To make a gift to the Future Unafraid initiative and contribute to the Purple Aces' response to COVID-19, please visit UEAlumniOnline.com/FutureUnafraid  

                                   

• SUPPORT: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the SUPPORT tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com