A closer look at Evansville, Tennessee Baseball's opponent in the Knoxville Super Regional

Tennessee Baseball’s Super Regional opponent became official on Monday afternoon. The University of Evansville is still alive as the NCAA Tournament’s Cinderella team.

The Aces (38-24), the No. 4 seed in the Greenville Regional, beat No. 16 East Carolina 6-5 on Monday, taking two of three from the Pirates over a span of four days to advance to the Knoxville Super Regional, where they’ll face Tennessee (53-11), the No. 1 overall seed.

The Vols will host Evansville for a three-game series this weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium with the winner advancing to the College World Series in Omaha.

Evansville is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 and on Monday became just the ninth No. 4 seed to advance out of regional play and reach the Super Regional round. Tennessee is in the Super Regionals for a fourth straight year — the Vols are hosting a Super Regional for the third time in four years — after winning 12 straight regional games dating back to 2021.

Last year Tennessee advanced out of the Clemson Regional. Two years ago the Vols lost to Notre Dame in the Knoxville Super Regional and three years ago the Vols swept LSU at home. 

Greenville Regional Final: Evansville 6, No. 16 East Carolina 5

Evansville had to rally from a 5-2 deficit to beat East Carolina on its home field.

The Aces jumped in front of ECU with a run in both the first and second innings, but a two-run third inning tied the game and the Pirates took control with a three-run fifth, scoring five straight runs. 

Evansville got the momentum back with a Kip Fougerousse RBI groundout in the fifth then scored the go ahead runs on Mark Shallengberger’s three-run home run in the sixth. 

Fougerousse homered in the bottom of the first to open the scoring. CJ McGinnis reached on an infield single, scoring a run on an ECU throwing error in the second. 

Evansville started its Cinderella run with a 4-1 win over East Carolina on Friday. The Aces beat VCU 17-11 on Saturday but lost 19-6 Sunday in Game 2 against ECU. 

A Closer Look: The Evansville Aces

Evansville finished tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference’s regular-season standings, with a 17-10 record. The Aces tied with Murray State and finished five games back of Indiana State. 

Evansville hosted the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament — the Aces are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2006 — after three straight run-rule wins over No. 4 Illinois State (twice) and No. 5 UIC, then an 8-6 win over No. 1 Indiana State in the tournament’s championship game. 

Three different SEC teams took their shots at Evansville during the regular season. Vanderbilt beat the Aces 7-3 on February 28 in Nashville. Mississippi State swept them in Starkville March 8-10 — 5-2, 8-3 and 13-3 — and they lost at Kentucky 11-3 on March 19.

Junior infielder Cal McGinnis was named the MVC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after hitting .714 (10-14) with three doubles, six RBI and seven runs scored across the four games. 

Fougerousse, junior outfielder Harrison Taubert, and graduate center Brendan Hord were also named to the All-Tournament team. 

Shallengberger and left-hander Kenton Deverman were first-team All-MVC during the regular season. Fougerousse and senior righty Shane Harris were honorable mention All-MVC.

Deverman, a freshman left-hander, has a 9-1 record in 15 starts, with a 3.81 ERA over a team-high 106.1 innings pitched. Senior lefty Donovan Schultz has started 16 times and has a 6-2 record with a 5.84 ERA. Harris, a senior righty, has an 8-6 record and a 3.68 ERA over 71.0 innings pitched, starting six times in 24 appearances. 

Shallengberger (.388) and McGinnis (.343) led Evansville in batting average entering the NCAA Tournament. Fougerousse had a team-high 17 home runs before adding four more in the regional.

Evansville entered the NCAA Tournament already having set school records for doubles (150), home runs (82) and runs scored (460). 

The Aces entered Monday’s regional final against East Carolina ranked No. 2 nationally in doubles with a 153 in 61 games. They were 24th in runs scored (487), 44th in batting average (.301) and tied for 45th in home runs (90). They’re tied for 147th in earned run average (5.98).

Tennessee is tied for seventh in double (141 in 64 games), No. 3 in runs (586), No. 18 in batting average (.311), No. 1 in home runs (159) and No. 3 in ERA (3.80).