EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team heads to Illinois State this week for the final Missouri Valley Conference series of the season before next week’s conference tournament in Omaha, Neb. The three-game series starts Thursday at 4:30 p.m. CT in Normal, Ill. and continues Friday at 4:30 p.m., and Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
The Aces currently sit in sixth place in the Valley standings with a 7-10 record in the conference, while the Redbirds are in fourth place with a 10-8 mark in the MVC.
EVANSVILLE: 28-20 overall, 7-10 MVC
ILLINOIS STATE: 32-16 overall, 10-8 MVC
PITCHING PROBABLES
Game 1: RHP Corey Maines (8-3, 2.79 ERA) vs. RHP
Kyle Lloyd (4-5, 4.31 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Dan Savas (3-4, 4.29) vs. LHP
Cole Isom (5-5, 4.84)
Game 3: RHP JD Learnard (7-2, 3.68) vs. TBA
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
May 11, 2011 AUSTIN PEAY 8-3 W, 8-9-0/3-10-1 Biggs (W 5-0)
* May 13, 2011 CREIGHTON 1-2 L (12), 1-6-2/2-14-0 Biggs (L 5-1)
* May 14, 2011 CREIGHTON 0-4 L, 0-5-2/4-11-0 Isom (L 5-5)
* May 15, 2011 CREIGHTON 10-1 W, 10-12-0/1-5-1 Fick (W 7-3)
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE
May 19 at Illinois State 4:30 p.m. CT
May 20 at Illinois State 4:30 p.m. CT
May 21 at Illinois State 1:00 p.m. CT
LAST OUTING
Evansville could not get the bats going Tuesday night in their last non-conference game of the season, falling to SIU Edwardsville by a score of 4-1. The Aces recorded just two hits against the Cougars, one each for
Cody Fick and
Ty Legan. Freshman
Ryan Billo (3-1) took the loss, hurling four innings, giving up three runs, five hits, three walks, and struck out two.
James Kohler tossed the following three frames, allowing a run and three hits, while Tyler Miller threw a scoreless eighth, allowing three hits and struck out one.
SCOUTING THE ACES
Evansville (28-20 overall, 7-10 MVC) is hitting .288 as a team, good for second in the Valley, with
Cody Fick (.403),
Greg Wallace (.321),
Trentt Copeland (.321), and
Jared Baehl (.319) leading the way. The Aces’ pitching staff owns a collective 4.10 ERA, piloted by Fick’s 7-3 mark and 2.38 ERA. Midweek starter and key reliever
Josh Biggs owns a 5-1 record and 1.84 ERA, throwing 49.0 innings in 14 appearances, while weekend starters
Kyle Lloyd (4-5, 4.31 ERA) and
Cole Isom (5-5, 4.84 ERA) have also been steady for UE. Defensively, the Aces lead the conference with 55 double plays and rank second with a .977 fielding percentage.
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS
Illinois State (32-16, 10-8 MVC) comes off Tuesday night’s, 9-4, victory over Western Illinois. Last weekend, the Redbirds swept Southern Illinois in three games by scores of 11-9 (10 innings), 8-2, and 9-4. As a team, ILS is hitting .277 led by Tyler McNeely (.354, 11 HR) and Ryan Court (.335, 15 2B). The pitching staff owns a collective 3.28 ERA, as Thursday’s projected starter Corey Maines leads the squad with a 8-3 record and 2.79 ERA. Defensively, the Redbirds are at the bottom of the Valley with their .958 fielding percentage, making 77 errors this year (UE has 44).
ACE PLAYER/PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Senior
Cody Fick led Evansville both offensively and defensively last week, hitting .353, recording at least one hit in all four games, while also pitching a complete game win over first-place Creighton. Fick went the distance, allowing just one run, five scattered hits, and struck out five in UE’s, 10-1, victory over the Bluejays. He also piloted the squad at the plate, going 2-for-4, including a double, a two-run scoring single in the third inning that gave Evansville the lead for good, and three runs batted in. In the Aces’ 8-3 victory over the 2011 Ohio Valley Conference champions, Austin Peay, Fick had two hits, including a first inning two-run home run, and four RBI. With seven RBI on the week, Fick moved into second place in UE’s single-season record book with 68 RBI and is eight away from the record. He is also 10 away from the career record, currently with 179 career RBI. On the season, the Freeburg, Mo. native owns a .403 batting average, 7-3 pitching record, and 2.38 ERA.
STEPPING UP BIGG
Sophomore southpaw
Josh Biggs has developed into one of UE’s most consistent hurlers, as he owns a 5-1 record and 1.84 ERA with 14 appearances. Biggs went 1-1 on the week with a win over Austin Peay, throwing the first three innings of “staff day,” allowing no runs, two hits, and struck out three. After rain suspended UE’s first game with Creighton after five innings, Biggs took the mound for seven innings on day two, as the game went into the 12th inning with the score tied, 1-1. He allowed just one earned run and struck out four in the tough luck loss.
ROAD TRIP!
Playing four home games last week, the Aces will say goodbye to Evansville for quite a while. After already traveling to SIU Edwardsville Tuesday for their last non-conference game of the season, UE now hits the road to Normal, Ill. for the last Valley series of the year, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. From Normal, the Aces will head straight to Omaha, Neb. for the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park (May 24-28). Evansville owns a 12-12 record in road games.
SENIOR DAY SPARK
Playing in their last game at Braun Stadium Sunday, UE’s seven seniors stepped it up, leading UE to a 10-1 victory over Creighton. Senior
Shawn Kuester went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI, while senior
Jared Baehl had two hits and three RBI, and classmate
Ryan Oesterle also recorded two hits and scored two runs. Senior
Cody Fick (7-3) led Evansville all around, pitching the complete game, allowing a run, just five scattered hits, five walks, while striking out five. At the plate, Fick went 2-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in. Seniors
Greg Wallace and
Ty Legan also recorded a hit apiece. The senior class accounted for 11 of UE’s 12 hits and eight of the 10 runs.
STOP THIEF!
The Aces have caught 23 runners stealing this season, a league high. Sophomore catcher
Chris Pearson has caught 15 runners stealing, co-leading the MVC.
TURN TWO
UE has turned a Valley-high 55 double plays this season, while grounding into a Valley-low 17. The duo of Eric Stamets at shortstop and Trentt Copeland at second has been spectacular, turning two 33 times up the middle this year. Stamets has had a hand in a team-high 39 double plays and leads the club with 172 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.
SHUTTIES I
In 2010, the Aces neither shut out nor were shut out by an opponent. Also, no UE pitcher threw a complete game. This season, the Aces have recorded seven shutouts, four complete game shutouts (two each for Cody Fick and Cole Isom), and seven complete games.
SHUTTIES II
Cole Isom and
Cody Fick’s back-to-back complete game shutouts versus Bradley marked Evansville’s sixth and seventh shutouts of the season. The last time UE recorded back-to-back shutties was in the 2006 season when the Aces topped Nothern Iowa, 7-0, on Apr. 15 and then beat Murray State, 10-0, on Apr. 19. The last time Evansville pitchers threw back-to-back complete game shutouts was in the 1997 season when Jeremy Brown and Ryan Miller topped Bradley 1-0 (5/9/97) and 6-0 (5/10/97), respectively.
CIRCLING THE CYCLE
No one in the history of UE baseball has hit for the cycle, but the Aces have been very close this season. For a total of eight times, a UE player has been one away.
Eric Stamets was a triple away in UE’s 10-9 win over Indiana State last Saturday.
Jared Baehl was a home run shy at Saint Louis (3/30) and
Cody Fick was a home run shy at Jacksonville (3/9) and a triple shy both vs. UT-Martin (3/23) and Wichita State (4/15). Against Murray State (4/19) senior Greg Wallace finished a triple shy of the cycle, hitting a double, home run, and single in his first three at-bats, and was a triple away at Arkansas State (2/25) and a home run away vs. IPFW (4/3).
FICK NAMED TO OLERUD WATCH LIST
The College Baseball Hall of Fame announced May 5th the names of 25 players from across the country featured on the watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award. Senior
Cody Fick is a part of that list. The Olerud Award, which recognizes a player who makes an impact both on the mound and at the plate, will be presented in Lubbock, Texas, on July 3 as part of the College Baseball Hall of Fame’s Night of Champions. Fick leads Evansville in a number of offensive categories, including batting average (.409), slugging percentage (.669), hits (74), RBI (65), doubles (18), home runs (9), and total bases (121) through 44 games. He tops the Missouri Valley Conference in batting average and runs batted in, and also ranks third nationally in RBI per game. In less than three seasons, Fick has recorded 223 hits in his career, 176 RBI, and 37 home runs. Fick has also developed into Evansville’s ace, starting the year with a perfect 5-0 record on the mound, including a complete game shutout with nine strikeouts over Jacksonville. The Freeburg, Mo. native led UE to its first Valley series win of the season, hurling a complete game shutout with seven strikeouts at Bradley on April 24th.
BAEHL NAMED CAPITAL ONE ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Senior outfielder
Jared Baehl has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District Five First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Baehl, a native of Poseyville, Ind., currently ranks 13th in the country totaling six triples on the year. Baehl owns a .325 batting average and has recorded 15 multi-hit and eight multi-RBI games this season. He hit a home run versus Arkansas State (2/25) and finished a home run shy of the cycle at St. Louis (3/30). In the classroom, Baehl carries a 3.32 cumulative grade-point average in management and was named the Prairie Farms MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week on April 6. Two other student-athletes from the Missouri Valley Conference joined Baehl on the District Five First-Team, in Illinois State’s Ryan Court and Indiana State’s Koby Kraemer, while Creighton’s Ty Blach and Wichita State’s Kevin Hall also earned selection to District Seven’s First-Team. As a first-team selection, Baehl is now up for the Capital One Academic All-America Team, which will be selected later this month. To be eligible for Capital One Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must have a 3.3 cumulative GPA, be at least a sophomore in academic standing and be a starter or a key contributor to his team.
