NORMAL, Ill. – Freshman LHP Brent Stong gave Bradley 7.0 strong innings and senior LF Mike Tauchman was 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and RBI, but Evansville (23-33) staved off elimination in the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship when Kevin Kaczmarski launched a 3-run, walk-off home run, lifting the Purple Aces to a 4-3 win in Wednesday's second round at Duffy Bass Field.

The loss ends Bradley's season at 17-32 and Tauchman, the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year, will have to wait and see if his school-record .425 season batting average stands up as the nation's best through the remainder of the postseason.

Stong limited Evansville to one run on four hits in his longest outing of the season, 7.0 innings, then gave way to fellow freshman Elliot Ashbeck to start the eighth.  Ashbeck (0-2) worked a perfect eighth, but ran into trouble with one out in the ninth.  After surrendering a single to No. 8 hitter, shortstop Shain Showers, Ashbeck walked No. 9 hitter Andy Lasher before Kaczmarski lined his game-winning blast over the right-field wall.

The fact that Kaczmarski was in position for the walk-off shot went all the way back to the second inning, when the Braves were forced to record four outs.  Having faced the minimum five hitters to that point, Stong struck out John Day and having secured the apparent inning-ending strikeout, cather Austin Jarvis rolled the ball back out the pitcher's mound as the Braves headed toward the dugout.  Television replays confirmed Jarvis caught the third strike cleanly, but home plate umpire Todd Olinger ruled the pitch had hit the ground and Day eventually sprinted to first to extend the inning.

The play seemed harmless at the time when Stong retired the next hitter, Kyle Pollock, on two pitches, but proved impactful when the Evansville lineup shuffled back to the top of the order one out early in the ninth.

The Braves took the early lead, 1-0, in the third inning when Jarvis was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a Curtiss Bunch single and scored on Tauchman's first hit, a RBI single to left field.  Bradley pushed the lead to 2-0 in the fifth when Jarvis led off with a single, took second on a Bunch sacrifice and scored on a David Compitello double down the right field line.

The Purple Aces got on the board in the sixth when Jake Mahon led off the home half of the sixth with a single, moved to second when Jason Hockemeyer was hit by a Stong offering and scored on back-to-back Evansville groundouts.

Bradley reclaimed the 2-run advantage when Tauchman led off the eighth with a hustle double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a 2-out throwing error by Showers.

Evansville will face another elimination game Thursday when the Purple Aces play the loser of tonight's Missouri State/Illinois State game in a 12:37 contest at Duffy Bass Field.