It was a bizarre game that began Friday and ended Saturday, but the results were the same as they had been in the previous 12 for the Missouri State baseball team as Evansville’s Pat Tumilty hit a two-run walk-off single to give the Purple Aces a 7-6 win Saturday afternoon at Braun Stadium in Evansville.
MSU (19-25, 4-12 MVC) looked poised to snap the losing streak after Shane Elenz delivered an RBI single in the ninth to give the Bears a 6-5 lead. The Purple Aces (30-18, 11-8) then put their first two batters of the ninth on base before Austin Todd got a strikeout and a fly out to get the Bears within one out of the victory. UE’s Kirk Bascu hit a grounder to third, but Brayden Drake threw wide of first base and the bases were loaded. Tumilty slapped Austin Todd’s 3-2 pitch through the left side for the game-winning two-RBI single.
Todd (2-4) struck out three without a walk in four innings before yielding Tumilty’s hit.
The Bears got some help in breaking the scoreless tie in the fourth, loading the bases with two walks and an error with two outs before Tanner Mattson hammered a grand slam to left, the first homer of his two-year career, to give MSU a 4-0 lead. Mattson’s long ball was also just the ninth surrendered by UE pitching this season in its 48th game.
The Purple Aces loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning in the same way the Bears did, but were only able to come up with one run on Kern Watts’ ground out to first.
After the Bears batted in the top of the fifth, rain and thunderstorms caused the game to suspended until Saturday, ruining starter Ross Detwiler’s no-hit bid after four innings. The southpaw struck out five Aces and gave up an unearned run.
Andy Smith wasted little time in recording UE’s first hit of the game with a two-out single in the fifth, and the Aces would go on to take a 5-4 lead by putting five consecutive runners on with two outs. All four runs were scored on Pat Doyle before Todd came in to get the final out of the fifth.
Josh Mazzola blasted his third home run of the season to tie it in the sixth, but the Bears left the bases loaded.
Ben Woodbury and Nolan Keane drew walks in the ninth and Evansville brought in closer Matt Brinkmann to try and stop the rally. Shane Elenz promptly hit his second offering into left field to plate Woodbury for the go-ahead run and short-lived lead.
