EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball trailed early, but rallied to defeat Western Illinois University, 5-3, Friday evening at the USI Baseball Field. The Screaming Eagles are 24-30 overall and 13-13 in the OVC, while Leathernecks go to 13-36, 8-18 OVC.
USI, which had clinched a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with the win and help on Thursday, rose to sole possession of fourth in the OVC standings with the win. The Eagles, 13-13 in the league, are a game ahead of University of Tennessee at Martin (12-14), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (12-14), Tennessee Tech University (13-14), and Eastern Illinois University (12-14) with one game to play. USI holds the tie-breaker in the standings with TTU, SIUE, and EIU.
The OVC Baseball Championship, presented by SERVPRO, is scheduled for May 22-25 at Mountain Dew Park in Marion, Illinois. The top two seeds receive a double-bye, while seeds three and four receive a first round bye before the double-elimination portion of the eight-team tournament.
The Leathernecks grabbed the initial lead of Friday's contest, 1-0, with a tally in the first and upped it to 2-0 with a run in the third. USI closed the gap to 2-1 when junior second baseman
Lane Crowden (Jackson, Missouri) crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by junior third baseman
Ricardo Van Grieken (Venezuela) in the bottom of the third.
Crowden reached after being hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a sacrifice, and continued to third on an error/failed pick off.
The score would remain 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth when USI rallied with a pair of runs to take a 3-2 advantage. Van Grieken and sophomore shortstop
Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) posted back-to-back hits to put runners at second and third to get the rally started.
Senior designated hitter
Tucker Ebest knocked the tying run in with a sacrifice fly, while junior leftfielder
Thomas Emerich (Ava, Missouri) gave the Eagles the 3-2 lead with a RBI-single to center.
USI increased the lead to 5-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom eighth. Niehaus drove in senior rightfielder
Renn Tachioka (Japan) with a double down the left field line, while Emerich, who had a team-high two RBIs in the game, sealed WIU's fate with a single to left for the fifth run of the ball game.
The Leathernecks challenged in the top of the ninth, closing the gap to 5-3, and loaded the bases before USI junior right-hander
Tyler Hutson (Villa Hills, Kentucky) slammed the door shut on the win.
On the bump, junior right-hander
Carson Seeman (Auburn, California) posted the win in relief. Seeman (4-2) blanked the Leathernecks on two hits and one walk, while strike out one in 2.1 innings of work.
Hutson recorded his team-high fifth save of the year after throwing the final two innings. The junior allowed one run on three hits and struck out two.
Up Next for the Eagles:
The Eagles and the Leathernecks conclude the series with USI's Senior Day Saturday at 1 p.m. In addition to Senior Day Saturday, USI will be recognizing the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship team prior to the game.
