University of Evansville baseball falls short of MVC championship, ending strong season

With two on, two out and its best power hitter at the plate, the University of Evansville had a chance to complete a comeback in the ninth inning against sixth-seeded Missouri State.

Tanner Craig lined up against his former UE teammate Jack McMahill with hopes of turning a three-run deficit into a berth in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game.

Down in the count with two strikes, Craig saw a pitch he liked and swung. He missed.

The Bears beat No. 2-seeded UE 7-6, sending the Aces to an elimination game against regular-season champion Southern Illinois. That ended with a similar result in an 8-5 loss.

"We had a real shot," Evansville coach Wes Carroll said. "Just proud of the effort from our guys. They never lost hope and belief and energy supporting one another. I can honestly say we left it all out on the field."

Evansville baseball: The Aces won their first two Missouri Valley Conference tournament games

Jordan Bloemer’s performance on the mound for SIU was too much for UE to handle and keeping the Salukis off the board was a struggle, with the Aces conceding at least one run in five different innings.

SIU and Missouri State ultimately advanced to the MVC championship, ending the Aces' hopes of making an NCAA regional as an at-large considering their RPI ranked 81st on Sunday morning.

"Any last game of the year is always going to be sad just because you put a significant amount of time, effort and energy as a group," Carroll said. "This year was a special ride so there was a lot of emotion."

The season is over for the Aces (32-24) despite a strong showing in the MVC tournament as they scored 30 runs in their first two wins. After being picked to finish seventh in the Valley, UE finished second and posted its first 30-win campaign since 2014.

"We had our entire buy into being a part of something bigger than themselves," Carroll said. "We had a lot of selfless individuals that were there... It was a special run that fell a little short."

UE last made the NCAA tournament in 2006, but there was a point in the season it appeared to be in the running for a regional this spring. Still, it knew entering this past week it would need to win the automatic bid.

"It's tough because we hadn't been in that situation in many years," Carroll said. "I think, mentally, scoreboard watching so to speak and following RPI, I think we played with some pressure and we were tense at times... We had a couple of losses where we played uncharacteristically and I think the pressure got to us at times."

Nevertheless, the Aces were a game away from the championship twice. They simply couldn't prevail over the Bears or Salukis.

"That first game just kind of zapped us," Carroll said. "We had a chance, and to fall short by one run, we just couldn't recover...  As time will pass, so will this feeling, we'll be able to look back and just really realize how special of a year and journey it was."

There are, however, some key departures.

Craig, UE's all-time home run leader who Carroll said is on the "Mount Rushmore of players" he's coached, finished his career with another blast, hitting a two-run shot against SIU. He's one of several Aces hoping to be selected in this summer's MLB Draft, along with pitcher Shane Gray and centerfielder Mark Shallenberger.

Carroll still feels UE has a lot to look forward to now that it's had back-to-back winning seasons. The Aces will return much of the starting lineup that will be hungry to keep improving. That includes Simon Scherry — the Heritage Hills graduate will play in the Cape Cod League this summer — Brent Widder, Chase Hug and a handful of other key players. Paired with another strong recruiting class Carroll is excited about, they should provide excitement again in 2023.

"It's not like we had 12 or 15 seniors and this was our one run out of five years type of thing, I feel like we are built for sustained success," Carroll said. "I think we have balance in all of our lineups. We have multiple all-conference players coming back... We feel like the future is bright for Aces baseball."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville baseball falls short of Missouri Valley Conference final