EVANSVILLE – The University of Evansville baseball team will be hoping to replicate the success it experienced on its last three-game road series as it sets out for a series at Lipscomb this weekend.
UE at Lipscomb (LU Website)
Friday, 6 p.m.: Live Stats | 91.5 WUEV | Facebook Live
Saturday, 2 p.m.: Live Stats | Facebook Live
Sunday, 1 p.m.: Live Stats | 91.5 WUEV | ESPN3
After picking up two out of three at Campbell earlier this month, the Aces have hit a rough patch in the last week, dropping two out of three to Western Michigan at Braun Stadium last week and falling in contests with UT Martin and SIUE on Tuesday and Wednesday.
UE (7-13) will be hoping that its line-up can heat up once again this weekend. The Aces racked up 13 runs in the series opener at Campbell, but in the seven games since, the Aces have averaged 3.4 runs per game.
The UE offense has been led this season by the freshman duo of Craig Shepherd and Kenton Crews with .400 and .362 batting averages, respectively, but the team owns a .254 mark overall. Former Fort Scott Community College teammates Trey Hair (.317) and Andrew Tanous (.316) are the only other players on the roster with an average better than .300.
Hair, a preseason All-American, also leads the team in doubles (11), runs (15) and runs batted in (15). With three home runs, he's the only player to register more than one four-bagger on the season.
On the mound, UE will return to the rotation it utilized in that Campbell series, beginning with Patrick Schnieders (2-2, 2.36 ERA) on Friday night. Connor Strain (0-2, 5.40), who tossed three scoreless frames on Wednesday at SIUE, will return to the weekend rotation Saturday, and Justin Hayden (1-3, 7.62) will get the nod Sunday.
After earning a weekend start last time out, Austin Allinger (2-0, 2.41) will return to his role as a top reliever for the Aces this season.
On the other hand, Lipscomb enters the weekend with a lot of momentum. The Bisons (12-8) swept past Illinois State in Nashville last weekend before picking up a 16-2 win at Middle Tennessee on Wednesday.
First pitch on Friday is slated for 6 p.m.
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