The University of Evansville baseball team will trade the overcast and thirty degree weather it played in last weekend at Braun Stradium for the warmth and sun of Florida as the Aces travel to Jacksonville and Tampa this week for spring break. UE will take on Jacksonville University Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. CST, and then head to Tampa for a three-game series with the University of South Florida. They are scheduled for one game versus USF on Friday at 6:00 p.m. CST and a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 3:00 p.m. CST.
“We are going to have our hands full when we go down to Jacksonville. They are a very talented team,” said Head Coach
Wes Carroll. “Then, we will travel on to South Florida who has one of the best pitching rotations in the country. We’re going to have to be ready to play both mentally and physically this week.”
The Aces (4-5, 0-0 MVC) come off a split with Eastern Illinois. UE dropped the first game, 7-4, but bounced back in the nightcap to win, 4-1. Freshman
Cole Isom earned the win on the mound, throwing six scoreless innings, allowing just four scattered hits, while striking out two.
Trentt Copeland recorded three hits on the day, including two doubles, batting in two and scoring one run.
Jake Mahon,
Eric Stamets, and
Cody Fick all tallied two hits with Fick leading the team with four RBIs.
On the season, senior
Greg Wallace leads the Aces at the plate with a .400 average, including three home runs, four doubles, and a triple. Stamets, (.313), who is riding a 15-game hit-streak carried over from 2010, and
Ryan Oesterle (.308) have been the most consistent for UE in the opening nine games. As a team, the Aces are hitting .278.
Fick (1-0) is scheduled to start Tuesday on the mound. In his first outing of the season, which also marked his first Division I collegiate start, he allowed Arkansas State just five scattered hits and no earned runs in five innings of work, while striking out three and walking only one to earn the win.
Like UE, Jacksonville (9-3, 0-0 Atlantic Sun) has won four of their last five games. They come off a three-game sweep of Wagner, winning, 20-4, 7-3, and 9-0. Daniel Gulbransen leads the Dolphins’ bats, hitting .419 with four doubles and a home run.
Southpaw Matthew Tomshaw (0-0) is expected to start for the Dolphins in game one. He has started two games this season, but has yet to get a decision. He owns a 4.50 ERA, throwing six innings, allowing three runs on six hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
USF (3-5, 0-0 Big East) has ten pitchers with a below 3.00 ERA, as the team boasts a 2.69 ERA. The Bulls are led by Todd Brazeal and Sam Mende’s .294 batting averages. The Bulls will play Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday before meeting the Aces on the weekend.
