USI defeats Evansville for the first time since 1988
 
GAME Score: USI 9, Evansville 4
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The ninth-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team won its first "Battle at the Braun" with a 9-4 victory over the University of Evansville Tuesday night at Charles H. Braun Stadium. USI sees its record go to 36-8, while Evansville goes to 28-15.
 
With the victory, the Screaming Eagles tie a school record with their 15^th-straight win and defeat the Purple Aces for the first time since 1988.
 
After spotting the Aces a pair of runs in the second inning, the Eagles' bats came to life in the fourth when they scored five times after sending 11 batters to the plate to take a 5-2 lead. USI had eight consecutive batters reach base on five-straight hits, a walk, and two hit batters.
 
Evansville would bounce back and cut USI lead to one, 5-4, with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth. This would be as close as the Aces would come to the Eagles in the game.
 
The Eagles pushed the lead back to two, 6-4, with a tally in the fifth when junior third baseman Trent Gunn (Tell City, Indiana) singled in his second RBI of the game.
 
Gunn would strike again in the ninth when he knocked in two of the three runs in the inning with a two-run double. He would finish the night three-for-five with four RBIs and one run scored.
 
On the mound, junior right-hander Andrew Mercer (Mount Pearl, Newfoundland) picked up his second win of the year in relief. Mercer (2-1) did not allow a run and scattered three walks.
 
Senior right-hander David Toth (Danville, Indiana) followed Mercer to the mound and got the Eagles out of a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh before sophomore right-hander Tyler Nichols (Newburgh, Indiana) closed the door on the Aces.

Nichols posted his first career-save by going two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.
 
The Eagles complete the 2014 regular season Friday and Saturday when they travel to the University of Indianapolis for a pair of doubleheaders. The first pitch each day is slated for 11 a.m. (CDT).