• Series Notes (PDF)
• Free Live Game Audio (Courtesy of WUEV - High Bandwidth Stream)
• Live Game Statistics
The University of Evansville baseball team will open up Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend by traveling to Springfield, Missouri to take on defending MVC regular-season champion Missouri State in a three-game Valley series.
The series will begin Friday night at 6:30 p.m. and continue on both Saturday (2:00 p.m.) and Sunday (1:00 p.m.) afternoon. All three games of the series can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
Evansville will enter MVC play at 10-12 overall, after Tuesday’s heartbreaking 8-7 loss to nationally-ranked Louisville at Braun Stadium. Despite the loss, UE will enter league play having won seven out of the last 10 games, thanks to an offense ranked first in the MVC in home runs (22), doubles (52), and stolen bases (49), a defense ranked second in the league with a .973 fielding percentage, and a pitching staff which has stepped up to post a 4.15 team ERA over the last 10 contests.
Leading the way offensively for UE this year is the Canadian duo of junior outfielder Greg Wallace and sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland, and rookie shortstop Eric Stamets. Wallace, the current MVC Player of the Week, will ride an eight-game hitting streak into MVC play in which he has hit .513 to raise his season average to a team-best .372, while Copeland has hit safely in seven-straight games to push his average to .341. Stamets, meanwhile, has been a force on the bases, as he will enter MVC play ranked second nationally in stolen bases with 21 steals in 22 attempts, while hitting .319 on the season.
Missouri State will enter MVC play at 7-13 overall after sweeping a two-game mid-week series from visiting Central Arkansas this week. After pounding out a 14-5 victory on Tuesday night, the Bears used solid pitching to complete the sweep with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon. While Missouri State is 7-13 overall, the Bears boast a 6-2 mark at Hammons Field so far this year, and have not allowed more than six runs in a contest at home so far this spring.
Pacing the Missouri State attack is reigning MVC Freshman of the Year Kevin Medrano, who will bring a .351 average into league play. Fellow sophomore infielder Travis McComack is the only other Bear to hit above .300 so far this year with a .313 average, as Missouri State lost four key position starters off of last year’s MVC regular-season championship team to both graduation and the Major League draft. Back to anchor the Missouri State pitching staff, though, is junior left-hander Aaron Meade (0-3, 3.86 ERA), who was a 28th round draft pick of the New York Yankees last year and was named to the Cape Cod League All-Star game over the summer.
“I know that Missouri State has not had the start that it has wanted to this year at just 7-13, but Missouri State is still a very dangerous team with some veterans who know what it takes to win in the MVC,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “Aaron Meade, who we will be seeing on Friday night, is one of the top left-handed pitchers in the country again this year, so our guys are going to have to be up to the challenge this weekend.
“Even though we lost on Tuesday to Louisville, I feel like we enter Valley play with some momentum, as we have been competing extremely well over the last 10 games and have been playing some very good baseball. Hopefully, we can carry some of that momentum over into this weekend’s series and start Valley play on a high note."
