EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Indiana State baseball opened its weekend series against Evansville with a 6-2 loss Saturday night at Braun Stadium. The setback moved the Sycamores at 27-9 overall and 4-3 in Missouri Valley Conference action while the Aces improve to 19-15 and 6-1 MVC play.
 
Indiana State jumped out to an early lead after Chris Ayers led off the inning with a single up the middle before stealing second. Junior Max Wright brought Ayers home with a single to left field.
 
The Aces answered back in the bottom of the fifth after working three walks in the inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Nick Reeder drew a walk to tie the game before Polley was able to get a ground ball to end the inning.
 
Dane Tofteland picked up a leadoff hit-by-pitch to open the sixth inning and eventually came in to score when Clay Dungan, the reigning MVC Player of the Week, brought him home on a line drive through the right side.
 
Evansville's AJ Fritz wasted no time knotting the game up as he took the first pitch he saw and put it over the wall in left field for his fifth home run of the season. After a pitching change, the Aces picked up a walk by Sam Troyer before the third baseman stole a base and came home to score after the pickoff attempt sailed to left field.
 
The Aces added an insurance run later in the sixth when Craig Shepherd drove a double to left field to score Ben Komonosky who walked earlier in the inning. In total, Evansville used three hits and a pair of errors in the inning to take a 4-2 lead.
 
Evansville added two more runs in the seventh to add to their lead thanks to a leadoff double from Tanner Craig. Two wild pitches plated Craig from third before a sacrifice fly brought in the second run, extending the UE lead to 6-2.
 
Adam Lukas (5-3) went six complete innings for the Aces in his start. The right-hander allowed just two runs and five hits while striking out five Sycamores. Michael Parks was strong out of the bullpen for the Aces, retiring the first six Sycamores he faced until Jordan Schaffer singled to lead off the ninth.
 
Senior Triston Polley picked up the no decision after going five innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. The lefty struggled with his control as the Aces worked six walks while striking out just one time.
 
Austin Cross was charged with the loss, dropping to 2-1 on the season after allowing two runs. Evan Giles allowed three hits, three walks and a pair of runs in two innings in relief. As a staff, ISU walked 11 batters on the night while the Aces issued just one free pass.
 
Craig led the Aces with three base hits on the day while Reeder notched two hits and an RBI in the win.
 
No Sycamore recorded more than one base hit in the game as UE outhit Indiana State 9-6.
 
Indiana State will wrap up the weekend series Sunday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT. Both games will air live on ESPN Plus while fans can listen to the action on GoSycamores.com.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, be sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.