WESTFIELD, Ind. – At the end of a soggy first day of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, the 21st-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team dropped an 12-4 decision to William Jewell College Thursday evening at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana. USI sees its record go to 33-18 overall, while WJC goes to 31-20.
 
With the loss, USI returns to action in GLVC Tournament Friday at 11 a.m. (CDT) when it takes on 18^th-ranked Quincy University in an elimination game.
 
The Screaming Eagles fell behind early in the contest when the Cardinals took control with a seven-run second inning. William Jewell scored its seven runs on five hits and was aided by a pair of Eagle errors. The Cardinals would go on to build an 11-0 lead after six innings and a 12-1 margin after seven-and-a-half innings.
 
USI junior right-handed starter Colin Nowak (Carol Stream, Illinois) took the loss in the contest, suffering his first defeat since April 2 and had his personal four-game winning streak snapped. Nowak (6-3) allowed seven runs on six hits and four walks in 1.1 innings of work.
 
The Eagles' offense was shut down for the first seven innings by William Jewell's Austin Kretchmar, who allowed one run on five hits in getting the win. USI was finally able to push a run across against Kretchmar in the bottom of the seventh inning when senior shortstop Kyle Niemeier (Evansville, Indiana) scored on error after advancing to third on a double by sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana).  
 
Trailing 12-1 in the eighth, USI rallied against the William Jewell bullpen, scoring three times to cut the deficit to 12-4. The rally was highlighted by a two-run single by senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) and a RBI-walk by senior catcher Ryan Bertram (Zionsville, Indiana). The Eagles were not able to keep the offense going in the ninth and suffered the 12-4 loss.