VALPARAISO, Ind. (Interstat) — Chris McCormack pitched seven shutout innings, allowing no hits and striking out four, as the Evansville Purple Aces defeated the Valparaiso Beacons 11-0 on Sunday afternoon at Emory G. Bauer Field.

McCormack, who had not recorded an out in his previous appearance Friday at Valparaiso, retired the first seven batters he faced and faced only one batter over the minimum through five innings. He did not allow a baserunner past second base. Kellen Roberts followed with two perfect innings of relief, striking out one, to complete the combined one-hitter.

Evansville took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Cooper Rhodes walked and Harrison Tau walked before both scored on Mason McCue’s double to left-center. McCue was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

The Purple Aces broke the game open with six runs in the eighth inning. Spike Magill, Reid Haire and Drew McConne reached base to start the rally. Tau was hit by a pitch to force in a run, Rhodes singled to left to drive in another, Reagan Reeder grounded out to bring home a run and Simon Schulz singled through the right side to plate two more. Evansville sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning.

Three more runs crossed in the ninth. Kaleb Wilkey walked and scored on a sacrifice fly by McConne. Rhodes added an RBI single, and Reeder drove in a run on a fielder’s choice.

Rhodes finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Schulz went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. McCue had one hit and two RBIs. Charlie Longmeier and Magill each had two hits. Evansville collected 13 hits in all.

Valparaiso’s offense managed only three hits, all singles. Pleau Brayd singled in the second and fourth innings, and Bennett Gav singled in the second. The Beacons grounded into two double plays, including one to end the game. They left six runners on base.

Nick Baffa started for Valparaiso and pitched seven innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs and striking out seven. He retired the side in order in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings but was saddled with the loss after Evansville’s early scoring. Spencer Boynton relieved in the eighth and allowed two runs on two hits in one inning. Joe Seiber pitched the ninth, allowing one unearned run.

The win gave Evansville a 2-1 series victory after splitting the first two games. The Purple Aces lost 6-5 on Friday but won 6-5 on Saturday. Evansville improved to 19-29 overall. Valparaiso fell to 11-35.

McCormack’s outing marked a sharp turnaround from his previous start Friday, when he did not record an out and left the game without allowing a hit or run in a 5-6 loss. He had also pitched three innings of scoreless relief against Illinois-Chicago on May 2.

The game was the final regular-season meeting between the two Missouri Valley Conference opponents. Evansville returns home to host Murray State for a three-game series starting Thursday. Valparaiso travels to Central Michigan on Tuesday before a weekend series at Southern Illinois.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Evansville 3, Valparaiso 2. The Interstat ELO system gave Evansville a 66.10 percent probability to win.