EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The fifth-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team stumbled to open Great Lakes Valley Conference action, fall to Truman State University, 7-5, Saturday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI goes to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in the GLVC, while Truman State sees its record rise to 8-2 overall, 1-0 GLVC.
The Screaming Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning when senior shortstop
Matt Chavarria (Carlsbad, New Mexico) blasted a two-run home run to left center. The home run was Chavarria's team-best second of the season.
The score would remain 2-0 until the top of the fifth when a pair of Eagle errors allowed the Bulldogs to cut the advantage in half. Truman State would knot the game at 2-2 in the sixth with a tally on a pair of hits.
USI would bounce back with a one-out rally in the bottom of the sixth. Senior centerfielder
Tyler Mikrut (Edwardsville, Illinois) gave USI the lead back when he scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman leftfielder
Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana).
The Bulldogs responded with five unanswered runs, four unearned, to take 7-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Truman State scored in the four-straight innings to build its four-run advantage.
The Eagles tried to rally in the bottom half of the ninth, plating a pair of runs to cut the deficit in half and make the score 7-5. USI posted RBI singles by junior rightfielder
Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana), who had a team-best four hits in the game, and junior first baseman
Andrew Cope (Evansville, Indiana).
The ninth inning rally would stall when Chavarria hit into a game-ending double play.
On the mound, senior right-hander
Ben Wright (Newburgh, Indiana) took the loss for the Eagles despite having his best outing of the season. Wright allowed four runs, three earned, while striking out a season-high six in 6.1 innings of work.
Senior right-hander
Andrew Mercer (Mount Pearl, Newfoundland) followed Wright to the mound. Mercer allowed three unearned runs in 1.1 innings, while junior right-hander
T.J. Decker (Brazil, Indiana) and senior right-hander
Scott Haag (Ft. Wayne, Indiana) finished the game on the bump.
The Eagles and the Bulldogs continue the four-game series Sunday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader before concluding the series Monday with a noon single game.
