EVANSVILLE – The seven-game season-opening road swing will continue for the University of Evansville baseball team on Wednesday afternoon as the Purple Aces will hit the road for seventh-ranked Vanderbilt.
UE at No. 7 Vanderbilt (Wednesday, 4 p.m.): Live Stats |
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Game Notes
The Aces (1-2) are coming off a spectacular offensive weekend that that saw them pile up nine runs in three consecutive games, but they will certainly be put to the test on Wednesday as they square up with a historically strong pitching staff that posted a 3.25 earned run average and held hitters to a paltry .232 batting average a season ago. The Commodore staff finished third in the nation with 9.7 strikeouts per game.
However, UE returns some of its biggest bats from last season's offensive surge, which featured 51 homers -- the best team total for an Aces squad since the NCAA introduced the new bat standards. Two of their biggest sluggers, Korbin Williams and Trey Hair, are back after hitting 10 apiece, and there may be more power hitters in store as the duo was not among the three players that left the park this past weekend.
Hair, a senior and preseason All-American, was the leader of the offense on the weekend at Central Arkansas, hitting .500 with four doubles and five scores, and his former Fort Scott Community College teammate Andrew Tanous wasn't far behind with a .462 average and four runs.
Tanous and freshmen Jimmy Day and Kenton Crews each picked up their first career home run while in Conway.
On the mound, UE will turn to Alex Weigand, a weekend starter from a year ago. The sophomore lefty excelled at times last season, especially at the start of conference play as he gave up just two earned runs over the course of three starts against Bradley, Wichita State and Missouri State. The Bourbonnais, Ill., native finished the season with a 3-4 record on the mound with a 5.16 ERA.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt will be looking to build on a 2-1 start to the season. After dropping a 3-2 nail-biter at San Diego on Friday, the Commodores responded to out-score the Toreros 19-3 on Saturday and Sunday to seal the series victory.
Jeren Kendall, who is one of two Vandy players on the Golden Spikes watch list, will look to lead the way after posting a .332 average with 63 scores and 59 runs batted in last season. An All-American a season ago, he hit .333 against USD with a pair of triples.
First pitch from Hawkins field is set for 4 p.m.
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