EVANSVILLE – City pride will be on the line Wednesday as the University of Evansville baseball team will return to Charles H. Braun Stadium for the annual Battle at The Braun game against cross-town rival Southern Indiana.
The game, which has become a yearly fixture on the baseball schedule in the Tri-State area over the past 13 years, will offer a chance for the Aces (8-20) to get back on track after falling victim to a sweep at the hands of Southern Illinois to begin Missouri Valley Conference play over the weekend. UE will begin its home conference slate later this week with a three-game set against Indiana State.
Meanwhile, USI (12-13), which dropped a midweek contest to Oakland City last week, will be looking to carry over the success from the weekend, which saw them take home three out of four games at Illinois-Springfield.
Last season, the Aces pulled out 2-1 victory over USI, thanks in large part to the pitching of Connor Strain, who allowed just two hits over five innings. Current Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Boomer Synek scored the opening tally on a first-inning wild pitch, and Nate Reeder cashed in the ultimate winning score with a double in the third inning.
Perhaps fittingly, the top bats in the Aces line-up entering the showdown, are held by local players. Kenton Crews, a freshman out of Lincoln City, leads the way with a .333 average. Jasper freshman Craig Shepherd is a .310 hitter this season, and 2014 Castle graduate Korbin Williams owns a .308 average with 16 scores.
Trey Hair, who leads the team in runs (17), RBI (19) and doubles (13), is fourth on the team with a .292 average at the plate.
Alex Weigand (1-3, 8.66 ERA) will get the start on the mound for the Aces. The sophomore southpaw was a weekend starter a season ago, and he'll be looking to help continue the run of strong starting pitching for UE from the weekend. Starters Patrick Schnieders and Strain combined to allow three runs over 11.1 innings with 17 strikeouts in Friday and Saturday's narrow losses to the Salukis.
First pitch from Braun Stadium is set for 6 p.m. Also, as a reminder, beer will be available for purchase from the concession stand at all UE home baseball games this season.
=== #AcesAces ===
