Aces to close out road swing at Wichita State

5/11/2017 1:50:00 PM

EVANSVILLE – The University of Evansville baseball team will close out its eight-game road swing this weekend with a trip to Eck Stadium to take on Wichita State.

The three-game set, which will mark the final regular season Missouri Valley Conference meetings between the Aces and the Shockers, offers a chance for UE to extend its prowess in league series away from Charles H. Braun Stadium. Despite the 15-32 overall record for the Aces, the team has enjoyed an impressive amount of success on the road in recent weeks, beginning with a three-game sweep of Illinois State last month in Normal. Last weekend, the Aces took home two out of three at Bradley.

UE is 6-8 in league play.

The sweep at ISU was the first on the road for the Aces since 2006, and UE will be looking to put an end to a similar streak this weekend as WSU has won each of its last five home series against the Aces. The last UE series win in Wichita occurred in 2005.

The Aces will once again depend on their decorated pitching staff to get things done, beginning on Friday with Patrick Schnieders, who put together a remarkable start a week ago with seven shutout innings in a win over Bradley. The senior right-hander is a two-time MVC Pitcher of the Week this season, and his performance against the Braves marked the fourth time this season he'd struck out at least 10 batters in a single outing. He is 3-5 on the year with a 4.08 earned run average and 77 strikeouts over a team-best 64 innings of work.

Meanwhile, Connor Strain will earn the nod once again on Saturday. Another senior right-hander, he boasts a team-best 2.57 ERA to go along with a 2-4 record on the mound. Justin Hayden, who saw his 15-inning scoreless streak snapped last weekend, is 4-5 with a 5.12 ERA.

At the plate, it will be Trey Hair leading the way with a .292 batting average to go along with team-best totals in hits (54), doubles (18), runs scored (31) and runs batted in (34). Travis Tokarek, who leads the team in homers with seven, is second on the team with a .287 average and 29 RBI, and Andrew Tanous is hitting .286 with 14 doubles and 26 scores.

WSU enters the weekend with a 23-25 record, including 7-8 mark in MVC play. The Shockers also swept Illinois State last month, but the team fell in two of three contests at Dallas Baptist last weekend. The three games this weekend will mark the final home series for WSU as a member of The Valley.

First pitch on Friday is slated for 6 p.m.

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