Evansville's offense gets healthy in a 13-6 victory

Evansville entered Wednesday night's baseball game at Capaha Field struggling offensively.

But the visiting Aces got well, as they rolled to a 13-6 non-conference victory over struggling Southeast Missouri State.

The Aces sent runners scurrying all over the base paths while pounding out 20 hits in improving their record to 31-14. Evansville is 8-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference, good for fourth place.

"Honestly, we'd been struggling a little bit at the plate," Evansville coach Dave Schrage said. "We had a week off for final exams, so we were able to come out and do some individual hitting work. I thought it paid off. We really hit well."

Southeast, which suffered its fifth consecutive loss, fell to 16-27. The Redhawks are 7-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference and in a three-way tie for sixth place.

"We're struggling and it's pretty frustrating," senior third baseman Eric Horstman said. "We just can't put a complete game together."

Southeast assistant coach Scott Southard served as acting head coach while Mark Hogan was with his wife, who is recovering from surgery performed earlier in the week. Hogan should be back with the team for this weekend's OVC series against visiting Morehead State.

"Evansville just went through a little bit of struggles lately offensively, but they've obviously got some good hitters. It shows where they got 31 wins from," said Southard, who added, "Coach Hogan's wife is doing well. Her surgery was a success, which is great, and I know he's looking forward to getting back out here."

Robbie Minor and Dustin Knight each had three hits for the Aces, who entered the contest with a relatively pedestrian .278 team batting average. Knight doubled twice.

Kern Watts, Erik Lis, Pat Tumilty, Eric Jones, Kyle Smith and Ryan Barrett all added two hits for Evansville. Barrett drove in three runs, while Lis and Jones each added two RBIs.

In addition to all their hits, the Aces also stole five bases without being caught. They have recorded an impressive 81 thefts in 98 attempts this season.

"They've got a good-looking team," Southard said.

Southeast, carrying a .267 batting average, finished with a respectable 10 hits -- but the problem for the Redhawks was that they only had one hit after the fifth inning, thanks primarily to sophomore left-hander Kai Tuomi.

After Evansville starter Cal Stanke was hammered for six hits and four runs in two innings -- the midweek game had all the makings of a slugfest from start to finish -- Tuomi stopped the bleeding. He allowed just four hits and two runs in six innings to improve to 4-2.

"He did a great job," Schrage said. "It's a midweek, nonconference game and neither team is going to use their top pitchers. You have to have some other guys step up and he did.

"These games are usually slugfests and this one started out that way, but Kai really settling things down."

Horstman had two hits and three RBIs for the Redhawks, while freshman first baseman James Clayton also delivered two hits. Sophomore outfielder Brent Lawson had the game's only home run, a solo shot in the fifth inning that was his second homer of the season.

Freshman left-hander Casey Johnson took the loss, as he fell to 1-5. Johnson allowed 11 hits and seven runs in five innings, although he did strike out seven and walk just one.

Three Southeast pitchers followed Johnson to the mound, with only sophomore right-hander Matt Carter emerging unscathed. Carter, who has seen little action this year, worked two scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

"It was good to see Matt pitch well," Southard said. "He hasn't had a lot of work."

Even though the final score was lopsided, for much of the game it appeared as if things would stay tight until the end.

Southeast held only one lead, 1-0 after one inning, and after Evansville got four in the second, the Redhawks came back with three in their half of the second for a 4-4 tie.

The Aces went ahead for good with a two-run third, but Southeast pulled back to within one run twice, at 6-5 after four innings and 7-6 after five innings.

But, with Tuomi shutting down the Redhawks after that, Evansville pulled away. The Aces got three in the sixth to go up 10-6 and added three more runs over the final three innings.

Now Southeast will turn its attention to this weekend's conference series with first-place Morehead State, as the Redhawks try to battle their way into the OVC Tournament. The top six finishers in the 10-team league qualify. Southeast has nine OVC games remaining.

"It's a big weekend for us," Horstman said.