Fresh off of an 8-4 victory over nationally-ranked Kentucky, the University of Evansville baseball team will finally return home from a 13-game season-opening road trip this weekend to host Morehead State, Le Moyne, and Purdue in the annual Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic at UE’s Charles H. Braun Stadium. The four-team classic will run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon with games slated for 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. central time each day.

 

Here is a full schedule for this weekend’s Diamond Classic:

 

Friday

Game 1: Purdue (Matt Bischoff, RHP) vs. Le Moyne (Jeff Tardiff, RHP) -- 11 AM

Game 2: Morehead State (Tyler Hieneman, LHP) at Evansville (Keegan Dennis, RHP) -- 3 PM

Saturday

Game 3: Morehead State (Michael Bottoms, RHP) vs. Purdue (Matt Morgan, RHP) -- 11 AM

Game 4: Le Moyne (Cory Nelson, LHP) at Evansville (TBA) -- 3 PM

Sunday

Game 5: Morehead State (Quentin Morgan, RHP) vs. Le Moyne (Jerome Werniuk, RHP) -- 11 AM

Game 6: Purdue (Matt Jansen, LHP) at Evansville (TBA) -- 3 PM

 

For Evansville, this weekend’s tournament will mark the first time in which the Purple Aces are able to play in front of their home fans, after beginning the year on a 13-game road trip. UE went 4-9 on the trip which totaled over 2,500 miles round-trip by bus over the last three weeks, but the Purple Aces finished the trip strong, winning two out of the last three games, including posting an 8-4 victory at nationally-ranked Kentucky on Wednesday. Evansville rallied for five runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by a three-run triple by junior outfielder Greg Wallace and a two-run home run by sophomore infielder Trentt Copeland, to pick up a victory over nationally-ranked competition for the seventh consecutive season.

 

“Wednesday’s win was definitely a nice way to end the road trip,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “While we would have liked to have won a few more games on the trip, we played some great teams and I saw a lot of positives through the first 13 games of the season. Offensively, our veteran players have really stepped up and shouldered the leadership responsibility, and on the mound, we have had some young guys really begin to round into form over the last two weeks. Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue to build on that this weekend at home in front of our home fans.”

 

Junior infielder Cody Fick led Evansville offensively on the trip with a .352 average, four home runs, and 16 RBI. Senior first baseman Tom Heithoff was not far behind, with a .351 average, as he hit safely in all nine games in which he played in the field. Rookie shortstop Eric Stamets had a strong start to his UE career, as he hit .308 with six doubles and a team-best 11 stolen bases through the first 13 games. Wallace also added four home runs and a team-best 17 RBI for UE, as the Purple Aces averaged 6.3 runs per game offensively.

 

Morehead State will bring a 6-9 overall record into this weekend’s Diamond Classic, powered by an offense which has launched 23 home runs through the first 15 games behind sluggers J.D. Ashbrook (.418/6/13) and Drew Lee (.377/6/24). Le Moyne, meanwhile, currently stands at 5-7 on the season, although the Dolphins won two out of three games at nationally-ranked Southern Miss two weeks ago, and four of their seven losses have come to nationally-ranked competition overall. Purdue will enter the Diamond Classic at just 1-6 on the season, although the Boilermakers have hit .349 as a team through the first seven games, while stealing 17 bases and scoring 62 runs.