EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With one last test before opening up Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend, the University of Evansville baseball team will travel to take on Vanderbilt University Tuesday evening at Hawkins Field. First pitch in Nashville is set for 4:00 p.m. CT.

EVANSVILLE  (13-7, 0-0 MVC)
Last week: 4-1
3/13  vs. UT Martin, 6-5 W
3/14  at Austin Peay, 7-3 W 
3/16 vs. Western Michigan, 11-10 W (10inn)
3/17 vs. Western Michigan, 5-1 L
3/18 vs. Western Michigan, 8-7 W

CATCH THE ACTION

Tuesday

Evansville

at Vanderbilt

4:00 p.m. CT

Live Stats

Audio (91.5FM-WUEV)

Watch

PITCHING PROBABLES
UE: Ryan Billo (So., RHP) (2-0, 3.24 ERA, 16.2 IP, 4 BB, 11 K)
VU: Keenan Kolinsky (So., LHP) (1-0, 4.76 ERA, 11.1 IP, 0 BB, 3 K)

SCOUTING THE COMMODORES (7-13, 0-3 SEC) – Vanderbilt played five games last week, sweeping the Siena Saints in a midweek two-game series. The Commodores won 12-2 on Tuesday and 11-4 in a six inning, weather-shortened game Wednesday. Over the weekend, Vanderbilt suffered a three-game sweep to No. 1 nationally ranked Florida by scores of 10-2, 5-1, and 8-2 in the first SEC series of the year. The Commodores are hitting .266 as a team, led by Anthony Gomez’s .385 average and 21 RBI. Mike Yastrzemski (.373) and Tony Kemp (.288) have also been hitting well, both with 14 RBI. As a staff, Vandy’s pitchers own a 5.25 ERA and .261 opposing batting average. The Commodores were ranked 10th in the nation in Baseball America’s Preseason poll, but fell out of the Top 25 before Week 2 (2/27).

SCOUTING THE ACES (13-7, 0-0 MVC) – Evansville comes off a 4-1 week, overcoming UT Martin, 6-5, and Austin Peay, 7-3, midweek before winning the series, 2-1, over Western Michigan. Every victory, except the game at APSU, was won in walk-off style. UE topped the Broncos 11-10 Friday night in 10 innings after scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth and won on a walk-off walk. WMU took Saturday’s contest, 5-1, but UE won Sunday’s rubber match, 8-7, scoring four runs in the ninth. On the season, Jason Hockemeyer (.391), Tim Bodine (.346), Eric Stamets (.304), and Jake Mahon (.292) lead UE’s offense that owns a collective .258 average. UE’s pitching staff owns a 3.78 ERA with a 134-65 strikeout to walk ratio, and .262 opposing batting average.

ACE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – TIM BODINE
Leading Evansville to a four-win week, sophomore Tim Bodine was both consistent and clutch, batting .579, including a game-changing double and a game-winning walk-off single that gave UE a series victory over Western Michigan. Going 11-for-19 at the plate, Bodine raised his season batting average 134 points on the week, while also contributing five RBI and five runs. Bodine recorded multiple hits in 4-of-5 games, including three 3-for-4 performances in three bottom of the ninth comeback wins over UT Martin and Western Michigan. In UE’s first game against WMU, Bodine headed a five-run ninth inning rally with his first career double down the left field line and scored the tying run that set up the 10-inning victory.  In Sunday’s rubber match, Bodine came through in the clutch with a two-out walk-off single to centerfield that capped UE’s four-run bottom of the ninth rally. Starting all five contests, Bodine also recorded a perfect fielding percentage in right field.

COMEBACK KIDS
Evansville won all three of their home victories last week in walk-off style. Against UT Martin, the Aces came back from a five-run deficit, winning on Trentt Copeland’s one-out gapper. UE came back from another five-run deficit in game one with Western Michigan, scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth and won on a walk-off walk in the 10th. Trailing, 7-4, in the rubber match with WMU, UE scored four runs in the ninth, winning on Tim Bodine’s walk-off single.  In all three of those games, the Aces never led until they scored the final walk-off run.

DOUBLE-T TRENTT
Trentt Copeland’s two-run double that tied the game, 7-7, in the bottom of the ninth in the rubber match with Western Michigan not only set up UE’s 13th win of the season, but also marked his 50th career two-bagger. Copeland moved into UE’s all-time career top-10, tying Pat Tumilty (2004-07) in 10th place.

BALL MAGNET
Leading the Valley, sophomore Jake Mahon has been plunked 12 times this year, already matching his season total in 2011 that marked a team-high last year. He was hit four times this last week. Mahon ranks second on the team with a .449 on-base percentage.

NEARING THE CENTURY MARK
In his fourth season at the helm, Wes Carroll is in search of his 100th win this week. Carroll needs just two more victories to hit the milestone, currently owning a 98-89 record. In his first season, the UE alum posted the second-highest victory total by a first-year baseball coach at Evansville with 25 wins in 2009. Carroll has led his squad to above .500 records in each of the last two seasons, going 32-27 in 2010 and 28-25 in 2011.

TOUGH COMPETITION AHEAD
Opening up the Missouri Valley Conference schedule this weekend versus Indiana State, the Aces will be up against some great competition this spring in conference. Currently, every team in the MVC is succeeding in non-conference play, all with an above .500 mark and at least 10 wins. The Sycamores have the best record, 16-4, while UE has the fourth-best at 13-7.

IT’S OUTTA HERE
In game 17 of the season at Austin Peay (3/14), freshman Kyle Pollock recorded both his first home run of this career and the first/only long ball hit by an Ace this year. Eric Stamets leads the active players with six home runs in his career.

STEALTH STAMETS
Eric Stamets continues to climb up the career steals ladder, currently ranking third in program history with 87 steals (87-106) in just his third season of play. Stamets needs seven more to tie Ryan Brownlee (1994-97) in second place. Aaron Pembroke (1995-98) holds UE’s record with 106 career steals.

PITCHERS GALORE
Evansville returns 12-of-13 pitchers from last season and also adds three newcomers to the staff, including Kyle Freeland, a 35th round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
For the second consecutive year, shortstop Eric Stamets was named to the Missouri Valley Conference preseason all-conference team, voted on by the league’s eight head coaches. Stamets, a junior from Dublin, Ohio, projects to be one of the best shortstops in the nation this year. Last season, Stamets hit .292 with a team-high 51 runs scored and 27 stolen bases. Defensively, he led the Aces with 181 assists and helped the squad to a program-best .977 fielding percentage with a record-low 48 errors as a team. In addition, Stamets turned heads in the summer, playing for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks and was named a Cape Cod League All-Star. Stamets was a consensus Freshman All-American and the MVC Freshman of the Year in 2010.