VALPARAISO, Ind. – University of Evansville graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger launched his fourth home run in the last three games on Friday, and all nine members of the UE starting lineup scored a run, as the Purple Aces routed the host Valparaiso Beacons, 13-1, in seven innings at Emory G. Bauer Field in Valparaiso, Indiana.
"I am proud of our club today, as I thought that we executed in all three facets of the game extremely well," said UE head coach Wes Carroll. "On the mound, I thought that Kenton Deverman was outstanding once again, and it was nice to see Jacob Jarvis put up a scoreless inning, as he has worked extremely hard to get back up on the bump for us.
"Offensively, I thought all nine guys were locked in, which is great to see at this time of year. It was also nice to see Mark Shallenberger go up top with the grand slam, and Brendan Hord come through with two big hits as well. Now, we just need to keep this going here this weekend."
Evansville jumped on top early, as the Purple Aces scored three runs in the second inning to kick-start the offense. Graduate third baseman Brent Widder led off the second inning with a walk, and moved to third base on senior shortstop Simon Scherry's 248th career hit to left-center field. On the play, Scherry cracked UE's career top 10 for hits, tying former UE shortstop Robbie Minor (2004-07).
Widder would score on a throwing error by the Valparaiso catcher on a steal by Scherry to begin the scoring. Then, graduate catcher Brendan Hord followed two batters later with an RBI single to push the UE lead to 2-0. A bases-loaded walk later in the frame to senior designated hitter Kip Fougerousse would cap the three-run frame.
Evansville loaded the bases again in the third inning, and got a sacrifice fly from junior outfielder Ty Rumsey to push the lead to 4-0. UE then piled on five runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by an RBI single by Widder, a two-run double by Hord, and an RBI ground out by Rumsey.
After Valpo scored its only run of the game in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly, the Purple Aces would once again load the bases in the sixth inning. Only, this time, Shallenberger would quickly clear them with a no-doubt grand slam to right field for his team-leading 13th home run of the year, and fourth home run in UE's last three games.
While UE's offense was rolling, freshman starter Kenton Deverman kept the Beacons' offense at bay. Deverman improved to 7-1 on the season with 6.0 innings of one-run, five-hit baseball with three strikeouts. Junior reliever Jacob Jarvis, who had not pitched since March 2, then worked a perfect seventh inning on just seven pitches to help UE enact the mercy rule.
Hord, Widder, Scherry and freshman second baseman Brodie Peart all had two-hit afternoons for UE, while Shallenberger drove in four runs, and Hord added three RBI.
With the victory, Evansville improved to 26-19 overall and 13-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while winning its 17th game in the last 21 contests. Valparaiso, meanwhile, dropped to 13-30 overall and 5-14 in the MVC. The series will continue on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in a game that can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS. Graduate left-hander Donovan Schultz (3-1, 6.16 ERA) is expected to get the start for UE.
