• Series Notes (PDF)
• AcesTV's Live Video Coverage of Friday & Saturday
• Free Live Game Audio (All Three Games - Courtesy of WUEV)
• Live Game Statistics
The University of Evansville baseball team will try to slow down one of the nation’s top offensive attacks this weekend, as the Purple Aces will welcome independent power Dallas Baptist to Charles H. Braun Stadium for a three-game series. The series will begin Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. and continue on both Friday night (6:00 p.m.) and Saturday afternoon (1:00 p.m.). All three games can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
Evansville will bring a 13-15 overall record into this weekend’s series after dropping the final two games of a three-game series with nationally-ranked Wichita State last weekend. After cruising to an 11-6 victory on Friday night, Evansville suffered a heart-breaking 9-8 loss on Saturday before dropping a 17-2 decision on Sunday to conclude the series. Despite the series loss, Evansville’s offense remained red-hot, as the Purple Aces out-hit the nationally-ranked Shockers, .366 to .297, in the three-game series, as UE has hit .324 as a team over the last nine games thanks to eight different Purple Aces hitting above .345 since March 20.
Leading UE’s offensive onslaught of late has been freshman shortstop Eric Stamets and junior outfielder Greg Wallace. Stamets has hit a team-best .438 over the last nine games to raise his season batting average to .339, while continuing to rank second nationally in stolen bases with 26. Wallace, meanwhile, has hit .425 over the last nine games with 13 RBI, as he continues to anchor the UE offense this spring. Overall, Wallace leads UE in hitting at .367, while pacing the Missouri Valley Conference with 37 RBI.
UE will likely need its offense to stay hot this weekend, as the Purple Aces will be facing one of the nation’s top offensive attacks in the Dallas Baptist University Patriots. The Patriots entered the week ranked 11th nationally in team batting average at .347, while also ranking fifth nationally in home runs (50), ninth nationally in doubles (81), and 28th nationally in runs scored (249). Dallas Baptist will enter this weekend’s series with a 17-12 overall record and having won three out of its last four games, including posting a 7-6 victory at No. 25 Rice University on Tuesday night.
Dallas Baptist is led offensively by junior infielder Tyler Robbins, who will bring a .425 average, four home runs, and 25 RBI into this weekend’s series. Junior outfielder Jason Krizan (.385/7/34), a 2009 consensus All-American, and senior outfielder Ryan Enos (.375/10/26), a 2010 consensus preseason All-American, will also bring batting averages above .375 into this weekend’s series, as overall, 11 different Patriots have hit above .300 so far this spring.
Dallas Baptist is in just its fifth year of Division I competition in baseball, but the Patriots advanced to the 2008 NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection and earned a No. 2 seed as an independent. Overall, the Patriots have posted 31 consecutive winning seasons on the baseball diamond.
