GAME 1 BOX SCORE  |  GAME 2 BOX SCORE

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team split a doubleheader with visiting Milwaukee Monday at Braun Stadium, dropping the opener, 5-4, before rebounding to capture a 7-3 win in the nightcap to take the series.
 
Senior Andy Lasher, redshirt junior Johnny Day and junior David Patton each drove in a pair of runs in the twin bill to lead Evansville (3-7).  Patton finished 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of walks, Lasher tallied four hits in eight at-bats and Day completed the day by going 3-for-9 with three runs scored.  Senior Chris Pearson went 4-for-8 to bolster the Aces’ offense.
 
On the mound, senior Kyle Lloyd (1-1) and redshirt junior Sam Johns (0-1) each turned in quality starts for UE, with Lloyd earning the win in game two.  Lloyd tossed 6.0 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits and struck out seven, while walking just two.  Johns scattered five hits, recorded four strikeouts, issued five walks and surrendered a pair of runs in his 6.0 innings on the hill.
 
GAME 1 RECAP (UWM 5, UE 4)
 
In the opener, Milwaukee struck first by taking advantage of a pair of walks and a hit batter to score two runs and take a 2-0 lead.  Ryan Solberg and Nick Unes drew a pair of one out walks, before Derek Peake was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two away.  Michael Porcaro followed with a two-out single to right center that scored both Solberg and Unes.
 
The game remained 2-0 until the top of the seventh, when the Panthers tacked on another run to extend their lead to 3-0.  Peake led off the frame with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and later scored on an Evansville error.
 
Milwaukee pushed across two more runs in the top of the eighth to open up a 5-0 advantage, before the Aces manufactured four runs in the bottom of the inning, after the Panthers made a pair of throwing errors and issued three walks.
 
UE scored all four runs with two outs in its half of the eighth, as senior Jason Hockemeyer drew a walk and Day reached on a fielder’s choice, after an error by the Milwaukee shortstop kept the inning alive.  Pearson walked to load the bases and Patton was credited with an RBI after coaxing a bases-loaded walk.  Two more runs scored on a second Panther error of the inning and Lasher followed with Evansville’s only hit of the frame, driving in Patton to make it a 5-4 ballgame.
 
Freshman Brent Jurceka kept the Aces’ chances alive by tossing a perfect top of the ninth and the Aces put the tying run in scoring position when Hockemeyer walked and stole second with two outs, but Milwaukee’s Joshua Uhen earned the save, when Day lined out to left to end the game.
 
GAME 2 RECAP (UE 7, UWM 3)
 
In the nightcap, the Panthers once again got on the board first, scoring a run in the top of the first on an RBI single by Will Fadness, but Evansville took its first lead of the day in the bottom of the inning, getting RBI singles from Hockemeyer and Pearson to take a 2-1 lead after one complete inning.
 
The Aces’ big inning came in the bottom of the second, when UE scored four runs on three hits to open up a 5-1 lead.  Evansville’s rally started when Lasher drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by redshirt sophomore Kevin Kaczmarski, before later scoring on a wild pitch.  Sophomore Kyle Pollock walked and junior Jake Mahon was hit by a pitch to load the bases, before Milwaukee pulled starter Eric King and replaced him with Justin Jaquish after just 1.1 innings.  Day came through with a two-out, bases loaded single to score a pair of runs and two batters later Patton singled home Day four the Aces’ fourth and final run of the stanza.
 
Milwaukee countered by scoring single runs in both the third and the fourth innings to cut UE’s lead to 6-3 after four full innings.
 
In Evansville’s half of the sixth, Lasher delivered an RBI single that scored Day, who tallied a one-out base hit earlier in the inning, to push the Aces’ margin to 7-3.
 
Senior Josh Biggs took over for Lloyd on the mound to start the seventh, getting through the seventh and eighth with relative ease, before running into trouble in Milwaukee’s half of the ninth.  Biggs plunked Peake to start the frame, before issuing a walk to Michael Porcaro to put runners on first and second with no outs.  Senior Jake Naumann took over for Biggs and retired the next three Panther hitters in order to earn his second save of the year.

Evansville will be back on the diamond Wednesday, March 6, when it travels to UT Martin to take on the Skyhawks for a game that was postponed earlier this season.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.