EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Evansville scored nine runs in the bottom of the second inning and went on to defeat South Dakota State, 14-8, securing a series sweep in nonconference baseball action Sunday afternoon at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
The Purple Aces improved to 16-11 overall. SDSU dropped to 7-17 on the season.
Evansville sent 14 men to the plate in the fateful second inning that was highlighted by a grand slam by Eric Roberts. Brent Widder and Kenton Crews contributed run-scoring doubles earlier in the frame, leading to an early exit for SDSU starter Owen Bishop.
The Jackrabbits responded with one of their biggest innings of the season, scoring five times in the top of the third as they sent 10 men of their own up to bat. Luke Ira and Derek Hackman plated the first two runs with back-to-back singles, while Landon Badger added a run-scoring hit two batters later. After a sacrifice fly by Drew Beazley brought SDSU to within 9-4, Garrett Stout collected the Jackrabbits' sixth hit of the inning, a single that drove in Ryan McDonald for the fifth and final run of the frame.
Danny Borgstrom extended the Evansville lead with a pair of home runs in the late innings. His two-run blast in the sixth inning pushed the Purple Aces' lead to 12-5, while his solo home run with one out in the home half of the eighth completed the scoring for UE. Borgstrom was 4-for-5 to pace Evansville's 13-hit effort.
SDSU scored in each of the final two innings, putting a pair of ruins on the board in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Hackman and an RBI single by McDonald. Hackman tallied his third RBI of the game with a double down the right-field line in the ninth that scored Jordan Sagedahl.
The Jackrabbits tied a season-high with 15 hits as six different players recorded two hits apiece.
Nate Holliday allowed one run over three innings of relief for SDSU.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are scheduled to play their home opener Friday (April 9), hosting Omaha in a doubleheader. Action is set for a noon start at Erv Huether Field.
NOTES
Evansville has won all six matchups in the all-time series
SDSU tallied double figures in hits for the fifth time this season and matched the 15 hits in the team recorded in the first game of a March 26 doubleheader at Western Illinois
Both Hackman (two hits, two walks) and Jess Bellows (two hits, two HBP) reached base four times
Hackman has reached base safely in 22 of the 23 games he has played this season
Hackman recorded his team-leading seventh multi-hit game and fourth-multi RBI game of 2021
Stout and Bellows each batted .385 (5-for-13) in the series
The Jackrabbits turned two double plays in the game
SDSU stranded 14 runners in the game
The Jackrabbits were out-homered in the series, 8-0