EVANSVILLE – The University of Evansville baseball team will finally make it back to Charles H. Braun Stadium on Tuesday evening as the Purple Aces are set to welcome Belmont for the first of four straight home contests to close out the regular season.
UE at Belmont (Tuesday, 6 p.m.): Live Stats | Belmont Website
Later this week, the Aces will play a three-game set against Missouri Valley Conference foe Dallas Baptist before setting out for Springfield, Mo., for the conference tournament next week.
UE, which enters Tuesday's contest with a 16-34 record, will be looking to pick up a bit of momentum against the Bruins before heading into the weekend clash with DBU, which currently sits in second place in the MVC standings. The Aces will be playing for seeding when the Patriots come to town as they can finish anywhere from fourth to seventh.
On Tuesday, UE will turn to a junior to make the start on the mound against the Bruins in Jimmy Ward, who will earn the nod for just the second time this season. The Hanover Park, Ill., native will be making his 12th appearance of the season as he aims to bounce back after surrendering a pair of runs at Wichita State on Saturday.
Offensively, Trey Hair continues to lead the way for the Aces with a .295 batting average as well as team-best totals in doubles (18), homers (7), runs (33) and runs batted in (35). The senior was nearly impossible to keep off the base paths this past weekend, reaching base safely 12 times in three games.
Andrew Tanous, who picked up a clutch double to cash in a pair of runs in Saturday's 17-inning game with the Shockers, is hitting .285 with 15 doubles, 27 scores and 26 RBI. Travis Tokarek, who shares the home run lead with Hair, is hitting .278 with 30 RBI while touching home 28 times.
Meanwhile, Belmont enters the contest after taking two out of three from Southeast Missouri to improve their record to 26-25. Two weeks ago, the Bruins blanked the Aces in 3-0 fashion in Nashville as seven pitchers combined to shut down the UE line-up.
First pitch on Tuesday evening is slated for 6 p.m.
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