WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 17, @Indiana State 9
@Evansville 9,
Lindenwood 2
SIUE 17, INDIANA STATE 9
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - SIUE baseball hit four home runs and erased an early 6-0 deficit Wednesday on its way to a 17-8 road win at Indiana State.
The Cougars improved to 17-15 with the win. The Sycamores fell to 16-17.
Ryan Niedzwiedz homered twice and finished with four hits and three RBIs to pace the Cougars'14-hit attack. Gage Franck added his first career grand slam and Joshua Heyder homered and drove in two.
The Sycamores scored six times in the first inning and chased SIUE starter Wyatt Doak after just two-thirds of an inning.
Doak was charged with five runs in just two-thirds of an inning.
SIUE pulled two back in the second inning thanks to a Brenden Fry double and a Jose Fichera groundout. Heyder connected on his eighth home run of the season with one on in the third inning to cut the lead back to 6-4.
ISU pushed two more across on three hits against reliever Noah Johnson in the bottom of the third, before SIUE took control.
The Cougars led for the first time thanks to five runs in the fifth inning. Chase Bloomer got things started with a sacrifice fly and Niedzwiedz followed with his 13th home run of the year. Ethan Willoughby added an RBI single and Cooper Eggert doubled to drive in another run. Fry grounded out to bring home the go ahead run. Eggert tripled in a run in the seventh to extend the lead to 10-8.
Johnson (1-3) settled in to pitch three more innings without allowing another run and just a single hit. He struck out two to earn his first career win.
In the eighth inning, Niedzwiedz hit his second home run of the night, a two-run shot, and five batters later Franck belted the career grand slam stretching SIUE's lead to 16-8.
Indiana State added an unearned run in the ninth.
Wednesday's game was the fourth two-homer game of the year for Niedzwiedz who leads the Ohio Valley Conference with 14 homers. He now has 33 career home runs, which is tied for third all-time at SIUE.
Willoughby and Eggert each had two hits for the Cougars.
Kyle Rossy and Brennen Grams each threw a scoreless inning in relief. Gabriel Nutter allowed an unearned run in the ninth inning.
EVANSVILLE 9, LINDENWOOD 2
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Lindenwood baseball team (14-18, 2-7 OVC) dropped their midweek non-conference game at Evansville (11-19, 4-2 MVC) on Wednesday night by a score of 9-2. The Purple aces plated runs in each of the first four innings, including a four-run fourth frame, to open up a lead the Lions were unable to overcome.
Jake Radosevich led Lindenwood with two hits in the contest, while Tyler Ellis and Will Geary recorded RBIs. Six Lindenwood arms saw action in the game, with Braden Branigin getting tagged with the loss after giving up two runs on two hits with a strikeout through the first 1.2 innings.
Evansville began the home half of the first with three consecutive walks to load the bases with no outs but only scored one run on a 4-6-3 double play before Braden Branigin worked out of the inning with a fly out to right.
The Purple Aces tacked on to their lead with two outs in the second as Simon Shulz doubled to right field to bring in a runner from third base. After a walk put two on, Lindenwood made a call to the bullpen for Tanner Paschke, who recorded the third out to end the inning.
However, after Evansville put up another run in the third, things really began to unravel for Lindenwood in the bottom of the fourth as the Lions surrendered four runs on three hits and two errors.
Tyler Ellis got the Lions on the board in the top of the fifth with a no doubt solo home runs to left field. It was Ellis' third home run of the season. After Michael Walsh came in and worked the first scoreless inning of the game for LU, back-to-back walks drawn by Will Geary and Jake Radosevich put two on with one out, but Lindenwood was unable to capitalize.
After the Lions failed to draw any closer in the top of the seventh, Evansville extended the lead following the stretch with a Reagan Reeder two-run homer.
The Lions got one back in the top of the eighth inning with a Will Geary RBI single up the middle that scored Tanner Simpson from second base, but despite a Filip Sarota base hit that put runners on the corners, Lindenwood was unable to plate anymore runs. The Lions were then sat down in order in the top of the ninth to conclude the game.
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