CINCINNATI, Ohio - Forced to dip into its bullpen early, the University of Evansville baseball team battled to give itself a chance, ultimately falling to Xavier, 7-5, in the Aces series-opener on Friday afternoon in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Challenged by an early exit from starting left-handed pitcher Kenton Deverman, Evansville saw relief pitchers Owen Byberg and Chris McCormack steady the ship for the Aces. Deverman pitched just the first inning before giving way to Byberg, allowing a pair of hits in a scoreless inning of work. Byberg pitched three innings in relief allowing four earned runs, but matched a season-best with five strikeouts. In what was debatably his best performance as an Ace, McCormack pitched the final four innings of the contest, allowing just a pair of hits while tallying four strikeouts. For the Musketeers, starter Ryan Piech earned the win, allowing five runs in six innings of work, while striking-out seven.

At the plate, five Aces recorded a hit in the game with sophomore Drew McConnell and freshman Ximi Baftiri leading the way with a home run and two RBI a piece.

Evansville's offense was the highlight early for the visitors with Evansville putting a run on the board in the top of the first as freshman Wyatt Pennington ripping a double down the left field line and into the corner that scored junior Reid Haire easily from second base. In the bottom half of the first inning, Deverman took the mound for the Aces and allowed two hits to the first two batters he faced, but settled in, inducing a ground-out, foul -out, and finally a fly-out to centerfield to end an eventful first frame.

The offense stayed hot for the Aces in the top of the second as McConnell slapped a solo shot to left center field to lead-off the top of the second inning, lifting UE's lead to 2-0. As the bottom of the second got set to begin, Deverman's afternoon came to an end as the Aces went to the bullpen for Byberg. Xavier took advantage of the early move to relief pitching, plating four runs in the bottom of the second, capped by a two-run home run by Musketeer right fielder Clay Burdette that gave the home side a 4-2 lead.

In the third, Byberg settled in, sitting the Xavier bats down in order, including a pair of strikeouts. The top of the fourth saw the Aces answer back off the bat of Baftiri. The third baseman clubbed a two-run shot to left field, his third homer of the season, that tied the game back at four a piece. Unfortunately for UE, the tie was short-lived as Xavier answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the fourth inning, utilizing a two-run double and an RBI sac fly to retake a three-run lead.

The righty reliever McCormack came on to begin the bottom of the fifth on the mound for Evansville and provided the Aces with a chance to mount a comeback. After walking the first batter he faced, McCormack induced a double-play and another groundout to get out of the fifth. Evansville notched another run in the top of the sixth as redshirt sophomore Charlie Longmeier leadoff with a double to left that nearly cleared the tall fence down the line and two batters later, McConnell grounded out to first base, allowing Longmeier to score.

Despite the steadiness on the mound, offensively, Evansville was able to draw no closer, sending just 10 men to the plate over the final three innings in the 7-5 loss.

Evansville will resume its series with the Musketeers with a 1 PM matchup with Xavier on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati, Ohio.