EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team travels to Peoria, Ill. this weekend to take on Bradley University for a three-game conference series, starting Friday at 7:00 p.m. CT at O’Brien Field. Both squads enter the weekend with a 1-5 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play.

THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE

Fri. April 22	at Bradley	7:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Listen (91.5 FM)
Sat. April 23	at Bradley	7:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Listen (91.5 FM)
Sun. April 24	at Bradley	1:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Listen (91.5 FM)

LAST OUTING
UE jumped ahead and stayed ahead Tuesday night at Braun Stadium, as the Aces topped non-conference opponent Murray State, 8-3. Senior Greg Wallace led the Aces’ offense, going 3-for-5, a triple shy of the cycle, while senior Shawn Kuester went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Cody Fick belted his eighth home run of the season with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Freshman Ryan Billo (3-0) had a stellar outing, hurling the opening six innings, giving up six scattered hits, three runs, a walk, and struck out three. Classmates Tyler Miller and Peter Spear sealed the victory, shutting down the Breds in the final three frames.

PITCHING PROBABLES
LHP Joe Bircher (4-3, 2.90 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Lloyd (3-3, 5.54 ERA)
LHP Tory Doerr (2-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. LHP Cole Isom (3-4, 5.21 ERA)
RHP John Nasshan (2-4, 6.04 ERA) vs. RHP Cody Fick (5-2, 3.13 ERA)

SCOUTING THE ACES
Evansville (20-14, 1-5 MVC) comes off Tuesday’s non-conference victory over Murray State and have won three of the last five games. Cody Fick leads the squad with a .403 batting average as the team is hitting a collective .305. Greg Wallace (.366), Ryan Oesterle (.331), Jared Baehl (.328), Trentt Copeland (.313), Nate Smith (.309), and Eric Stamets (.300) are piloting the Aces with their above .300 marks. On the mound, Fick (5-2, 3.13 ERA) leads UE in wins, starting the season 5-0. As a staff, the Aces’ pitchers have a 4.82 ERA and have limited their opponents to a .279 batting average.

SCOUTING THE BRAVES
Bradley (19-16, 1-5 MVC) comes off a 10-9 loss to SIU Edwardsville. The Braves rallied with four runs in the eighth to tie the game, 9-9, but the Cougars plated an unearned run in the ninth to extend Bradley’s losing streak to five. It was a rough outing for the Braves as four Bradley pitchers combined to uncork a school single-game record seven wild pitches and surrendered 15 base hits, while the defense committed five errors. Bradley suffered a sweep by Valley foe Illinois State last week by scores of 4-1, 12-2 (7 innings), and 12-7. In the first week of MVC play, the Braves escaped a sweep by Indiana State, winning game three, 9-8, after falling 5-3 and 11-8 in the first two contests. Mike Tauchmann leads the squad with a .381 batting average, followed by Jason Leblebijian (.333), and Brad Kimball (.326), as the team holds a combined .281 average. Joe Bircher (4-3, 2.90 ERA) pilots the pitching staff with 36 strikeouts in nine starts. Jacob Booden (4.39 ERA) owns a 3-0 mark with eight starts, but has had some control issues with nine wild pitches, 10 hit batters, and 27 walks. As a staff, the Braves have a 4.43 ERA and .279 opposing batting average.

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH BRADLEY
UE leads the all-time series, 38-31. Evansville won the series, 2-1, in 2010, scoring 36 runs off the Braves across the three games at Braun Stadium. The victory slipped away from the Aces in game one after Bradley scored two runs in the top of the ninth to steal a 7-6 win. After Saturday was washed out, Evansville bounced back to win both games of Sunday’s doubleheader, 15-5 (8) and 15-13. In the 15-5 run rule win, Fick and Wallace slugged back-to-back homers twice in the contest as Wallace hit two dingers in the game and Fick three.

200 CLUB
With seven hits last week, senior Cody Fick joined Evansville’s 200-Hit Club in game one with Wichita State. Fick’s leadoff single in the third inning put him at the 200 mark, and his go-ahead grand slam in the sixth was the Freeburg, Mo.’s 201st. Fick currently has 205 career hits.

TWO-WAY PLAYER
Cody Fick currently leads Evansville in a number of offensive categories, including batting average (.403), slugging percentage (.691), hits (56), RBI (53), doubles (14), home runs (8), and total bases (96) through 34 games. He ranks fifth nationally in total RBI and third in RBI per game. In just three seasons, Fick has recorded 205 hits in his career, 164 RBI, and 36 home runs. He is currently four home runs away from tying UE’s career record of 40, and sits at fourth for RBI. After UE’s top two pitchers suffered season-ending injuries in the first weekend of play, Fick stepped in and developed into Evansville’s ace. Fick started the year with a perfect 5-0 record, including a complete game shutout with nine strikeouts over Jacksonville. He also recorded consecutive wins over Big Ten opponents Michigan State and Indiana University. Fick currently owns a 5-2 mark with a 3.13 ERA, and has limited his opponents to a .250 average. When not on the mound, Fick is playing either third or first base and is always in the Aces’ batting order whether in the field or on the mound.

STEALTH STAMETS
Sophomore Eric Stamets is currently tied for eighth in UE’s record books with 64 career stolen bases after just one and three quarters seasons. Stamets stole 43 bases as a freshman, breaking UE’s single-season record, and has swiped 21 bases in 28 attempts this year.

SAVED
Freshman James Kohler picked up his first career save last weekend, hurling the final four innings, giving up three runs on five hits, and striking out two, as Evansville topped Wichita State in game one. Evansville’s tallest player at 6’8”, mowed through the Shockers’ batting order, giving up just two scattered hits in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, and did not allow a runner past first base. Despite giving up two home runs in the ninth, Kohler was able to finish it off, preserving the win for starter Kyle Lloyd and sealing UE’s first MVC victory of the season.

MOST IMPROVED
Sophomore Chris Pearson entered last weekend with a .145 batting average, but came alive in the series with Wichita State, co-leading the squad with a .400 average versus the Shockers. Pearson went 4-for-10 with two doubles and three runs scored, raising his season average 40 points over the three games.

ACE PLAYERS VS. BRADLEY
- In the 2010 series with Bradley, Greg Wallace hit .538 (7-for-13), with a 1.462 slugging percentage, belting three home runs, a triple, and a double. He also tallied 11 RBI and four runs across three games. Wallace owns a .421 career average vs. the Braves, hitting .538 in 2008, .167 in 2009, and .538 in 2010.
- Cody Fick hit .500 with three home runs, six RBI, and a 1.143 slugging percentage last year vs. Bradley.
- Eric Stamets was a perfect 4-for-4 on the base paths in his freshman series vs. the Braves. He also hit .400 with five runs scored.
- Jake Naumann is UE’s only current pitcher that made an appearance in the 2010 series with Bradley. Naumann started game two and took the no decision after throwing 4.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven runs, including two homers, a walk, and struck out one.

2011 HOME RUN CLUB
Cody Fick (8)
Greg Wallace (7)
Ryan Oesterle (5)
Jared Baehl (1)
Eric Stamets (1)
Trentt Copeland (1)

TURN TWO
UE has made 38 double plays this season, while hitting into just 14. The duo of Stamets at short and Copeland at second has been spectacular, turning two 20 times up the middle this year. Stamets has had a hand in a team-high 24 double plays and leads the club with 122 assists. The sophomore set UE’s single-season assist record last season with 226. As a team, UE broke the program record in 2010 for defensive double plays with 69.

NATIONAL RANKINGS (As of Apr. 17)

UE SHORT HOPS
- The Aces are 11-1 when leading after the first inning.
- The Aces are 16-3 when they score first.
- The Aces are 6-1 when they hit two or more home runs in a game.
- The Aces are 17-1 when they hold the opposition to five or less runs in a game.
- The Aces are 5-0 in two-run games.
- The Aces are 6-0 when they score 10 or more runs in a game.
- The Aces have shut out their opponents five times this season.
- Ryan Oesterle enters the weekend on a seven-game hitting streak.
- Cody Fick and Trentt Copeland enter the weekend with a five-game hitting streak.
- Reliever Tyler Miller has not given up a run in his last four outings and has only allowed two runs in his eight appearances this season.

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
Sophomore Eric Stamets and seniors Greg Wallace and Cody Fick were chosen to the MVC’s Preseason All-Conference Team. 
Cody Fick - Third baseman and power hitter Fick garnered first-team all-conference honors last season after slugging a Valley-leading 19 home runs which also ranked 36th nationally.
Greg Wallace - Centerfielder Wallace tied former Major League great Joe Carter’s single-season MVC record for triples with a school-record 13, the fourth-highest single-season total in NCAA Division I history and also broke UE single-season records for both hits (91) and RBI (75), while hitting a team-best .371.  
Eric Stamets - Sophomore shortstop Eric Stamets was a consensus Freshman All-America selection after earning MVC Freshman of the Year laurels, ranking as the nation’s top freshman stolen base thief with a school-record 43 steals. Overall, Stamets hit .321 in his rookie campaign with 15 doubles, four home runs and 27 RBI. .

RECORD BREAKING YEAR
In the 2010 season, the Aces broke or tied 19 different single-game, single-season and career records, including one MVC mark as the Aces finished the year 32-27 overall and 10-11 in conference play.