BOX SCORE

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Redshirt sophomore Michael Eckstein squeezed home the game-winning run with a well-executed bunt and senior Chris Pearson added an insurance run with an RBI single in the eighth, before fellow senior Jake Naumann shut the door on Murray State in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the year and give the University of Evansville a 5-3 win over the visiting Thoroughbreds Tuesday night at Braun Stadium.
 
“It is great to see us get a close win,” head coach Wes Carroll said.  “In the winning innings, we were able to execute at the plate with Michael Eckstein getting a great bunt down, but it started earlier in the inning with Jason Hockemeyer getting a bunt down.  We haven’t been executing in the later innings, so it was great to see us finally play some situational baseball.”
 
Evansville (8-11) managed just six hits in the ballgame, but drew five walks to account for its five runs.  Redshirt junior Johnny Day was the only UE player to record multiple hits, as he finished the evening 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.  Pearson drove in two runs, going 1-for-2 with a run-scoring single and a bases-loaded walk.
 
Tyler Miller (1-1) picked up his first win of the year out of the bullpen, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.  Miller allowed just one hit and issued a walk, while striking out five.
 
“We had a great pitching performance from Tyler Miller out of the pen,” Carroll said.  “He put goose eggs on the board and gave us a chance, and then Jake Naumann was able to come in and close it out.”
 
The Aces wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as they strung together three hits and a pair of walks to plate three runs in the bottom of the first.  Redshirt sophomore Kevin Kaczmarski led off the game with a single to c enter to extend his on-base streak to 37 games, Hockemeyer singled to right and sophomore Kyle Pollock drew a one-out walk to load the bases, before Day drove in the game’s first run with a single to left.  Pearson coaxed a bases-loaded walk for UE’s second run and senior Andy Lasher plated Pollock with a sacrifice fly to left to give Evansville a 3-0 lead.
 
After stranding six baserunners through the first four innings, Murray State (10-11) finally broke through in its half of the fifth.  Mike Kozlowski drove in the Thoroughbreds’ first two runs with a single to center, before Dylan Wheeler followed with an RBI single to left off of UE starter Sam Johns that tied the game at 3-3.
 
Junior Jake Mahon singled through the left side and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Hockemeyer to set the table for Evansville’s two-run eighth.  Mahon took third on a wild pitch and was able to scamper home on Eckstein’s squeeze bunt for the eventual game-winning run. 
 
Ty Stetson, Taylor Mathews, Brandon Eggenschwiler and Wheeler each tallied a pair of hits to lead MSU.  John Rafferty (0-1) suffered the loss on the mound for Murray State, allowing one run on a hit in his inning of work.
 
The Aces will play another midweek game Wednesday night at 6 p.m. against UT Martin in Martin, Tenn., before opening Missouri Valley Conference play with a three-game set with Creighton at Braun Stadium, beginning Friday night at 6 p.m.