SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Opening the postseason, the University of Evansville baseball team used another stellar outing from starting pitcher Shane Gray and consistent offense to capture a 9-1 win over No. 5 seed Indiana State on Wednesday night at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.

"Great start to the tournament. Shane Gray was outstanding, proving his 1st team All-Conference honor.," said Aces head baseball coach Wes Carroll on the win. "Offensively we had some great at bats up against some really good sequence of pitches. Top to bottom in our lineup contributed in this game and we made some great defensive plays. Just a well played game with a lot of energy to set a tone for the tournament."

The outing marked Shane Gray's fourth-straight gem on the mound, pitching eight innings, allowing just one run on five hits, while recording seven strikeouts and not walking a batter. Pitching the final inning of relief, Michael Parks turned-in a scoreless inning of work, allowing one hit.

At the plate, Evansville reached double-digit hits, tallying 10 on the night, with Tanner Craig leading the way, going three-for-five with an RBI and a double, while Mark Shallenberger and Eric Roberts each recorded two hits with Roberts pushing home three runs.

Playing late into the night and into the early morning hours, Evansville did not show any fatigue, opening the scoring with a three-run bottom of the first. After a single and an error allowed the Aces to get runner son first and second and a sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, Simon Scherry slipped a double down the left field line, scoring Shallenberger and Craig and earning UE a 2-0 lead. The Aces would get another run across later in the inning on a sacrifce fly from Evan Berkey to lift Evansville to a three-run advantage.

Through the first five innings, Gray cruised for the Aces, allowing just two batters to reach base, as the senior held the Sycamores scoreless. In the bottom of the fifth, UE tacked on two more runs on RBI walks to pull in front, 5-0.

Indiana State threatened in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs, but Gray allowed just one run in the jam as the lead sat at 5-1 for Evansville. The Aces got that run back in the bottom of the seventh as Chase Hug uncorked a solo shot to right field that landed on top of the Springfield Cardinals hitting facility for a 6-1 advantage.

As the night marched on, Evansville added three more runs in the eighth on an RBI double from Craig and a two-run rip up the middle from Roberts as the Aces secured a 9-1 opening game victory in the tournament.

With the forecast for inclement weather tomorrow, Evansville's game against the winner of the Dallas Baptist-Bradley contest has been shifted to Friday with first pitch scheduled at 3 PM at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.
 

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