• Tournament Notes (PDF)
• Live Game Statistics For Each Game

The University of Evansville baseball team will kick off the home portion of its 2009 schedule this weekend, as the Purple Aces will host the 2009 Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic at Charles H. Braun Stadium on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Long-time rivals Butler, Saint Louis, and 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Eastern Illinois will round out this year’s tournament field.

Tournament play begins on Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m., as Saint Louis will do battle with Eastern Illinois.  Evansville will then host in-state rival Butler at 5:00 p.m. on Friday night in the 2009 home opener for the Purple Aces.  Below is a full tournament schedule for this weekend, with all times central:

Friday, February 27
Game 1: Saint Louis 5, Eastern Illinois 4 -- Box Score (HTML)
Game 2: Evansville 10, Butler 1 -- Box Score (HTML)

Saturday, February 28
Game 3: Eastern Illinois 7, Butler 6 -- Box Score (HTML)
Game 4: Saint Louis 4, Evansville 2 -- Box Score (HTML)

Sunday, March 1
Game 5: Butler (Jeff Sinkiewicz, Sr., RHP) vs. Saint Louis (Andrew Buckham, So., LHP) -- 11 AM
Game 6: Eastern Illinois (Mike Recchia, So., RHP) at Evansville (TBA) -- 3 PM

Evansville will bring an 0-3 record into this weekend’s tournament after dropping a 13-2 decision at Tennessee-Martin on Wednesday.  So far, the Purple Aces’ offense has been in regular-season form, as UE will carry a .318 team batting average into the weekend tournament.  Four Purple Aces currently are hitting above .400 on the season, led by junior outfielder Alex Acheson’s .556 clip.  Sophomore third baseman Cody Fick (.455/2/5), junior catcher Andy Pascoe (.417/0/1), and senior outfielder Jim Viscomi (.400/1/2) also bat above .400 this year for UE.  Viscomi has also gone a perfect 7-for-7 in the stolen base department to lead the Missouri Valley Conference.

Butler will bring a 1-0 record into this weekend’s tournament after beating Marian College, 12-2, on Wednesday.  Saint Louis, meanwhile, will sport a 2-3 overall record this weekend, although one of the Billikens’ victories came at the expense of nationally-ranked Santa Barbara.  Eastern Illinois will bring a 2-1 overall record to Braun Stadium this weekend after winning two of three games at Southeastern Louisiana last weekend.  The Panthers rallied to win the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament last year, and are led by senior NCAA Tournament all-regional performer and OVC Preseason Player of the Year Brett Nommensen (.625/2/2).