EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Evansville built a 9-2 lead and held on for an 11-7 win over SIUE, dealing the Cougars their first home loss of the year Tuesday at Simmons Baseball Complex.

SIUE dropped to 13-6 while Evansville improved to 13-7.

"It wasn't a clean night of baseball for us," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "We gave up too many walks and made a couple of errors. They have a nice offense and if you make a mistake, they're going to make you pay."

The Purple Aces hit four home runs in the first four innings. UE third baseman Brent Widder's two-run homer capped a four-run third inning and catcher Brendan Hord hit a three-run home run to highlight a four-run fourth inning for the Aces. Hord hit a solo home run in the third as well.

"You can handle it if those are solo home runs," said Lyons. "When you're putting guys on base and then they get the big hits it compounds things."

Taylor Bruninga (1-1) started and worked into the third inning. He allowed four runs on four hits and struck out four.

SIUE scored twice in the third, picking up an RBI from Brady Bunten on a bases loaded walk. Bunten added a one-out solo home run in the fifth.

Josh Ohl picked up an RBI-single in the seventh inning to make it 9-4.

Evansville led 10-5 in the eighth when Kyle Ratliff connected for a two-run home run following a walk to Avery Owusu-Asiedu.

Bunten and Ratliff each finished 2-4. Ohl was 2-3.

"A couple of guys are starting to come around offensively," Lyons added. "I liked that we didn't roll over. We competed all the way through and got ourselves right there within striking distance in the eighth and ninth innings."

Evansville outhit SIUE 10-8. Hord was 4-6 with four RBIs to lead the Aces at the plate. Widder was 2-5 with three RBIs.

SIUE begins Ohio Valley Conference play when Southeast Missouri comes to Simmons Complex for a three-game weekend series beginning Friday.