Murray State
Evansville
'Breds battle ranked Evansville to the end, fall 6-3 in 10 innings
4/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Murray State Thoroughbreds led nationally-ranked Evansville 3-2 going into the ninth inning, but UE's Heath Hamilton led off the ninth with a solo home run to tie the game, and Erik Lis hit his second two-run homer of the game in the 10th inning to give the Purple Aces the 6-3 win.
Evansville (28-8) is ranked 27th in the College Baseball Newspaper poll this week, 29th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll and 30th in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
The Purple Aces opened with a two-run homer by Lis in the first inning, taking an early 2-0 lead, but Murray State (18-15) responded in the bottom half of the inning.
Seth Hudson hit a one-out single, then Clint Griggs followed with a single, moving Hudson to second. A wild pitch got both runners ahead one base, and Hudson scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Stewart to cut the UE lead to 2-1.
In the third inning, the 'Breds tied the game when Hudson hit a one-out single, then Griggs doubled down the left-field line, moving Hudson to third. Hudson scored on a wild pitch to make the score 2-2.
In the sixth inning, Austin Swain hit a one-out bunt single, then Lincoln Kent singled through the left side., moving Swain to second. Tyler Pittman hit a double down the right-field line, scoring Swain and giving Murray State a 3-2 lead.
In the ninth, Hamilton led off with a solo home run to tie the game, and in the 10th inning, Lis popped a two-run shot to give Evansville the lead for good.
"We had some opportunities," said MSU head coach Rob McDonald. "This was a good club; they're playing really well. We played all right, but like I said, we had some opportunities that we squandered with runners on third base and less than two outs. We take pride in being able to get those runners home, and we just didn't do that today."
Murray State was led by Hudson, who went 3-for-5 with two runs. Griggs, Kent and Pittman each had a double for the 'Breds, while Griggs, Swain, Kent and Pittman each had two hits.
On defense, Griggs had eight putouts at first base, while Stewart had a team-high four assists at third base.
Jon Ross Shelton (0-4) took the loss in relief, allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits, striking out two and walking two in 2-1/3 innings. Matt Scalfani started for the 'Breds, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking one in seven innings. Charlie Wade finished the game, allowing one hit and walking one in two-thirds of an inning.
For Evansville, Lis went 3-for-5 with two home runs, two runs scored and four runs batted in. Kyle Smith and Eric Jones each had two hits for the Purple Aces.
On defense, Lis had 12 putouts at first base, while Robbie Minor had six assists at shortstop.
Mark Murray (6-0) got the win as the last of seven pitchers for Evansville. Murray allowed two hits and faced one more than the minimum 10 batters over the last three innings.
Murray State will play its last scheduled non-conference home game of the season tomorrow (Wednesday) when the 'Breds host Arkansas State (24-10) at 2 p.m. at Reagan Field.
