USI sweeps six-game homestand EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Southern Indiana baseball team completed a six-game homestand sweep after defeating Kentucky Wesleyan College, 8-3, Tuesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. The Screaming Eagles saw their record rise to 22-19 overall, while the Panthers finished the evening 29-15.
After spotting KWC a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, USI took the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame, 2-1, with a pair tallies on RBI-singles by junior third baseman
Trent Gunn (Tell City, Indiana) and freshman designated hitter
Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana). The Eagles would go on to build a 6-1 advantage with two more runs in both the second and the third innings.
KWC got two of the runs back in the top of the fifth, but USI pushed the lead back to five with single tallies in the fifth and the sixth for the eventual final score of 8-3.
USI junior catcher
Ryan Bertram (Zionsville, Indiana) led the USI hitters with three RBIs, while junior rightfielder
Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) had a team-high three hits. Gunn, McNamara, and Bertram also had two hits each.
On the mound, junior right-hander
T.J. Decker (Brazil, Indiana) posted his first win of the season in relief. Decker (1-0) allowed three hits and a walk, while striking out two in 4.2 innings.
Freshman right-hander
Sean Pedley (Owensboro, Kentucky) started for the Eagles, going 4.1 innings. Pedley permitted three runs on eight hits and one walk, striking out one.
The Eagles will conclude the 2015 regular season schedule on the road when they travel to the University of Illinois Springfield for a four-game series. USI, which is 17-15 in the GLVC, starts the series second in the GLVC East Division and one-game ahead of Bellarmine University and UIS, who are tied with 16-16 marks. The Eagles also are a game-and-a-half ahead of fifth-place Saint Joseph's College.
The top three teams from the GLVC East and West Divisions, plus two wild cards, will qualify for the GLVC Tournament in Westfield, Indiana, May 7-10.
