EVANSVILLE – After opening the home season over the weekend against Milwaukee, the University of Evansville baseball team will close out its six-game homestand this week with a game against Indiana on Tuesday evening and a showdown against Austin Peay Wednesday. Both games are set to begin at 6 p.m.
 
Bolstered by a lights-out performance from Patrick Schnieders on Saturday, the Purple Aces (3-8) will be looking to build some momentum after splitting a four-game set with Milwaukee. The Aces dropped the first game of the series in 13 innings before sweeping a Saturday doubleheader and falling in Sunday's finale. Schnieders, who came up just one out short of a no-hitter, was recognized as the Missouri Valley Conference's Pitcher of the Week for the second time in three weeks.
 
UE will be hoping that the rest of its staff can perform at a similar level this week, beginning with Alex Weigand on Tuesday. The sophomore lefty made his first start of the season last month at seventh-ranked Vanderbilt, and he's looking to build on a rookie season that saw him post a 5.16 earned run average while collecting 46 strikeouts over 68 innings. The Bourbonnais, Ill., native also started in UE's home game against Indiana a season ago, allowing four earned runs on seven hits over six innings of work.
 
That game against the Hoosiers, which took place on March 15, went down to the wire. With the Aces leading 5-1, IU pushed across five runs in the top of the seventh to pull ahead, but a Jonathan Ramon triple in the bottom of the eighth tied things up. Unfortunately for the Aces, Scotty Bradley singled home a run in the top of the 10^th as UE fell 7-6.
 
The Aces were primed to deliver an emphatic response to the loss two weeks later in Bloomington, and they did just that, out-scoring the Hoosiers 15-0 over the course of the opening five innings before the game was called off due to inclement weather. The game was just three outs away from being official, and had the score counted, it would stand as the most dominant performance against the Hoosiers in the history of the series.
 
Trey Hair, a preseason All-American, homered in the game, and Brandon Gomer, who has appeared exclusively out of the bullpen this season, did not allow a hit through the first three innings at Bart Kaufman field.
 
Hair has led the Aces so far this season with a .333 average with five doubles and a pair of homers. He also holds team-best totals in runs scored (9) and runs batted in (8). Stewart Nelson, who also had two hits in that 15-0 IU game, is hitting .306, and newcomer Andrew Tanous rounds out the trio of top hitters with a .310 mark. Both Tanous and Nelson have racked up six scores and five RBI.
 
Indiana will enter Tuesday looking to gain some momentum after a 4-6-1 start to the season. The Hoosiers have won just two of their last eight contests, and the game against the Aces will mark their final road game before opening the season against Middle Tennessee this weekend in Bloomington.
 
APSU, meanwhile, will enter Wednesday's contest looking to bounce back from a series loss to Mercer. The Governors have won three of their last five, which includes a 21-8 battering of Middle Tennessee in Clarksville last Tuesday.
 
Tuesday's game will mark the first this season to be carried live on The Valley on ESPN3. Also new this season at Braun Stadium, beer will be available for purchase from the concession stand at all home baseball games.
 
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