FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thurs., May 27, 2010

No. 5 Seed Evansville Defeats No. 8 seed Missouri State, 7-2
Game 10 of State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament

WICHITA, KAN. -- Evansville scored seven unanswered runs and used solid pitching to close out a rain-delayed 7-2 win against Missouri State Thursday afternoon at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Eck Stadium.

The second elimination game of Bracket B ran into rain delay that lasted just shy of three hours and held up the final two innings of the game in front of a crowd of 2,724. The game, which started at 1:05 p.m., lasted 5 hours and one minute overall.

The No. 5-seeded Evansville Aces (32-26) built up their five-run lead through seven innings against No. 8-seeded Missouri State (21-34). Evansville junior right fielder Nate Smith finished hitting 2-for-4, scored two runs and picked up two RBI. Junior third baseman Cody Fick also batted in two runs.

Evansville senior pitcher Corey Davisson picked up the win, pitching the first seven innings and giving up three hits while striking out four. Aces' freshman pitcher Jake Naumann struck out three of the batters he faced in the final two innings and held Missouri State without a hit.

Bears' freshman designated hitter Luke Voit hit a two-out, two-run home run to put MSU on the scoreboard first after Keenen Maddox reached on a fielder's choice that the Aces turned into a run-down out of Aaron Conway who had bolted too far off third on contact.

A single up the middle from Evansville's Fick scored teammate Eric Stamets with two outs in the bottom of the third inning to cut into Missouri State's early lead.

The Aces tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Alex Acheson scored when Fick flied out to left field.

Smith scored to give Evansville the lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the sixth inning on an Andy Pascoe single to right center field. A brief rain shower during the bottom half of the inning cooled down the stadium, but did not disrupt play.

The Aces opened up the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with four runs. Evansville's Greg Wallace scored first with one out when Trentt Copeland reached on a fielder's choice after his SAC bunt. Fick advanced to second on the play.

Smith's two RBI double to left field scored Copeland and Fick. Smith advanced to third base on the throw and later scored on a wild pitch with one out for a 7-2 Evansville lead.

Lightening and heavy rain put the game on hold at 2:50 p.m. and play restarted with the top of the eighth inning at 5:45 p.m. Players passed the hours in between bowling with baseballs and drink cups, dancing, racing to the outfield wall and sliding on the tarp covering the pitcher's mound.

Evansville pitcher Jake Nauman restarted the game at the top of the eighth inning, striking out the Bears' Trevor Rogers for the first out of the inning and striking out Maddox for the third out of the inning.

Evansville advances to play top-seeded Wichita State 40 minutes after the conclusion of the Illinois State-Indiana State game scheduled to begin at 6:50 p.m. Thursday.