Evansville (40-19) jumped out to an early lead over Illinois State (33-19-1) in the first inning, taking advantage of two Redbird errors, and held on for a 4-3 win in the Redbirds' opening game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Carbondale. ISU will take on the loser of the Southern Illinois vs. Wichita State game tomorrow at 11 a.m.
No. 6 seeded Evansville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning due to two Redbird errors and a hit. With two outs, Ashley Werner reached base after a dribbler to starting pitcher Shannon Nicholson was mishandled and thrown away. Werner stole second before clean-up hitter Duke drove the ball up the middle for a single. Werner came around to score as the ball was mishandled in center field by Lauren Bierwirth.
The No. 3 Redbirds loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame with one out but couldn't get the production they need to push a runner across the plate. With one out, Emily Krueger was hit by a pitch. Then, Kate Stake hit a screamer down the third baseline before Dominique Borba was walked to load the bases. But the next two batters went down in order to end the inning.
Right fielder Mandy Garner tied it up in the second with a double to left field. Randi Patton led off with a walk and was moved to second on a sacrifice by Tricia Gaither. Ashley Ogorek struck out looking before Garner's big hit.
The Purple Aces had Nicholson's number in the third and were able to regain the lead. Consecutive singles to lead off the inning set up second baseman Laraway's RBI double to left field. So with no outs, UE had two runners in scoring position. It managed to push the runner at third across on a sacrifice fly to left center by Werner, giving themselves a 3-1 advantage.
In the fourth, Patton again led off with a walk. After the ensuing batter struck out, Katie Guilbault came on to pinch hit. Guilbault did her job, smacking a double down the left field line to push Patton to third. After Garner was hit by a pitch, Aces' starting pitched Katie Markle gave way to Casey Clutch. Krueger got down in the count 0-2 before taking a couple balls and hitting a high fly ball down the left field line in foul territory. Evansville's left fielder caught the ball for the second out, but the hit was deep enough to score Patton from third. However, Aundrea Parsons, who was in to pinch run for Guilbault, was thrown out after taking a big lead off second base on the fly.
Evansville added a solo homer in the fifth off the bat of leadoff hitter Emily Winters, before ISU made another comeback in the bottom of the frame. Stake reached on an error by the shortstop before Borba advanced her to second by reaching on a base on balls. Stacy Birk then reached on a fielder's choice whil Stake was forced out at third. Bierwirth popped out to the shortstop to give the Redbirds two outs. Patton followed with an RBI single to the right side to cut the Aces' lead to one. But Illinois State failed to even the score again and fell 4-3.
Nicholson fell to 10-7 on the season, while Evansville's Markle (19-9) picked up the win. Guilbault and Patton were both one-for-one for the Redbirds.
