EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team dropped a midweek contest on Wednesday night, falling to SEMO 9-1 at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
Charlie Longmeier (Seymour, Ind./Seymour) had his third consecutive multi-hit day and extended his hitting streak to six games with a 2-for-3 effort to lead the Aces offensively. Ximi Baftiri (Morris, Ill./Morris) had two hits as well, while Kaleb Wilkey (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) drove in the lone run of the day for Evansville.
SEMO's JP Sauer got the win, while Drue Young (Greenwood, Ind./Ball State) took the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Making his first start of the season for the Aces, Young used a 4-6-3 double play and a strikeout to put up a zero in the first inning. However, the Redhawks found the scoreboard in the second inning on an error and two hits, scoring two runs.
In the home half of the inning, Reagan Reeder (Ramsey, Minn./Illinois) led off the inning with a double to right center before Ryan Seddon (Joliet, Ill./St. Laurence) walked to put two on with nobody out. Reeder and Seddon executed a double steal to advance to second and third, but a pair of strikeouts brought Wilkey to the plate in a key spot. The junior delivered a hard hit single to third, beating out the throw to first to plate Reeder and get a run back.
SEMO answered right back, though, using five hits to plate three more runs and make it a 5-1 game. The Redhawks continued to pour it on the fourth, scoring two more runs on three hits, extending the lead to 7-1.
Kellen Roberts (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) put a stop to the scoring in the fifth, entering from the bullpen to post a scoreless frame with two strikeouts. With the outing, the right-hander extended his scoreless appearance streak to four.
The Aces put a pair of runners on in the bottom of the fifth, but came up empty. Another run came across for the Redhawks in the top of the sixth before the visitors threatened again in the seventh, but Parker MacCauley (Paducah, Ky./Tennessee Tech) entered from the 'pen with two men on and struck out two to strand the runner.
Freshman Conner Watson (Evansville, Ind./North) made his first career appearance on the mound in the eight, stranding two runners to post a zero.
In the ninth, SEMO pushed across one final insurance run before retiring the side in order in the bottom half to seal a 9-1 win.
UP NEXT
This weekend, Evansville travels to California for the first time since 2009 to take on Cal Baptist for a three-game set. First pitch for Friday's series opener is set for 8 PM CT.
