EVANSVILLE – It will be a busy week for the University of Evansville baseball team, beginning Tuesday with a game against visiting UT Martin at Charles H. Braun Stadium before continuing on the road with trips to SIUE Wednesday and Lipscomb this weekend.
The Aces (7-11) will be hoping to bounce back from the first home series loss of the season after they welcomed Western Michigan to Braun Stadium for a three-game set. UE dropped the first game before bouncing back with a walk-off victory on Saturday. Sunday's rubber game was a nail-biter as well, as the tying run for the Aces was stranded just 90 feet from home in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss.
UE will be entering the two mid-week contests hoping to recharge an offense that operated on all cylinders against SIUE and UT Martin a season ago. The Aces, who haven't logged a home run in the last five games, left the park six times in Edwardsville a season ago, which tied a 15-year old school record. Meanwhile, in Martin, the Aces tied the school record for walks (15) and runs in a 29-9 shellacking of the Skyhawks.
UT Martin enters the week looking to put the brakes on a 2-9 stretch after opening the season 5-1. The Skyhawks (7-10) were swept at Ohio Valley Conference favorite Southeast Missouri over the weekend. SIUE (10-9), also out of the OVC, is also looking to rebound from a road sweep after falling victim to Tennessee Tech.
While veteran players like Trey Hair and Korbin Williams may remember their success against the two teams a season ago, the most potent bats in the Aces line-up will be seeing the teams for the first time in their career. Craig Shepherd, a freshman out of Jasper, leads the Aces with a .400 batting average and .526 on-base mark this season. Meanwhile, Kenton Crews ranks second on the team with a .367 average.
Hair, a preseason All-American, is hitting .324 for the Aces with team-leading totals in runs (14), runs batted in (15), doubles (9) and home runs (3). Williams in second on the team in scores (11) while hitting .254 overall.
Left-hander Alex Weigand (1-1, 6.75 ERA) is slated to make his third start of the season in Tuesday's contest, and Connor Strain (0-2, 6.75 ERA) will get the nod Wednesday.
First pitch Tuesday is slated for 6 p.m., and Wednesday's game in Edwardsville will begin at 3 p.m.
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