SERIES NOTES (pdf)
EVANSVILLE, Ind, -- The University of Evansville baseball team will play the second series of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule this weekend, traveling to Omaha, Neb. to take on the Creighton University Bluejays. The three-game battle will begin Friday at 6:00 p.m. CT at TD Ameritrade Park.
SCOUTING THE BLUEJAYS (11-11, 0-3 MVC) – Creighton enters the weekend amidst a four-game losing streak, suffering a sweep to Missouri State last weekend in Springfield by scores of 3-0, 7-0, and 5-3. The Bluejays also slipped to Nebrasks-Omaha, 3-2, Tuesday. Nick Judkins leads the Jays’ offense with a .341 batting average and 19 RBI, while Petr Zyma (.333) and Brad McKewon (.306) have also been consistent hitters for CU. As a team the Jays own a .242 average. Defensively, Creighton has been solid with a .980 fielding percentage, while the pitching staff owns a collective 3.85 ERA with 124 strikeouts and 64 walks.
SCOUTING THE ACES (16-9, 1-2 MVC) – Evansville comes off a 5-0 midweek win over Lipscomb University, while going 1-2 versus Indiana State in MVC opening weekend. Offensively,
Tim Bodine (.353),
Jason Hockemeyer (.313), and
Eric Stamets (.300) anchor the squad that is hitting .255 collectively. UE’s defense has been their strongest suit, ranking fourth in the nation with a .981 fielding percentage. UE’s pitching staff owns a 3.50 ERA and .254 opposing average.
PITCHING PROBABLES
Fri., March 30 (6 p.m.)
Evansville:
Cole Isom (So., LHP)
(1-3, 3.49 ERA, 38.2 IP, 17 BB, 33 K)
Creighton: Ty Blach (Jr., LHP)
(3-2, 2.01 ERA, 40.1 IP, 10 BB, 29 K)
Sat., March 31 (2 p.m.)
Evansville:
Kyle Lloyd (Jr., RHP)
(3-1, 2.73 ERA, 33.0 IP, 9 BB, 26 K)
Creighton: Erik Mattingly (Sr., RHP)
(0-1, 1.59 ERA, 11.1 IP, 5 BB, 8 K)
Sun., April 1 (1 p.m.)
Evansville: Kyle Freeland (Fr., LHP)
(1-3, 5.02 ERA, 28.2 IP, 10 BB, 21 K)
Creighton: Andrew Urban (Jr., RHP)
(1-1, 3.10 ERA, 20.1 IP, 6 BB, 3 K)
CATCH THE ACTION
ON DECK
Evansville will travel to SIU Edwardsville Tuesday evening for a non-conference break before returning to Valley play next weekend at Southern Illinois.
AT TD AMERITRADE
Evansville will play its third, fourth, and fifth games ever at TD Ameritrade Park this weekend, but it will be the first time UE will play Creighton in the venue. The Aces are 0-2 at TD Ameritrade after falling 2-1 to Wichita State and 4-3 in 11 innings to Illinois State in the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.TD Ameritrade is the site for the NCAA College World Series.
LAST TIME VS. CREIGHTON
Last season, Creighton won the series 2-1, winning games one and two by scores of 2-1 (12 innings) and 4-0. The Aces bounced back to trounce the Jays, 10-1, on Senior Day at Braun Stadium. Creighton owns a 39-23 lead in the all-time series, including a 20-6 mark in Omaha.
LAST TIME OUT
Ryan Billo,
Jake Naumann, and
Josh Biggs combined for a five-hit shutout Wednesday evening, as UE topped Lipscomb University, 5-0, at Braun Stadium. Throwing a no-hitter into the fifth frame, Billo (4-0) scattered just three hits in six and two thirds innings, while striking out three. Out of the pen, Naumann hurled 1.1 frames, striking out two, while Biggs closed the game in the ninth. Both relievers permitted just one hit apiece. Junior
Chris Pearson piloted the Aces’ offense with his 3-for-3 performance at the plate with a run scored. Classmate
Andy Lasher also logged a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in.
COMBO DEAL
Wednesday night’s combined shutout over Lipscomb marked the Aces’ first shuttie of the season and first combined shutout since
Kyle Lloyd and
James Kohler worked together to beat IPFW, 11-0, on April 1, 2011.
COMPLETE GAMES
Only two UE pitchers have recorded complete games in their careers. Sophomore Cole Isom has hurled three, including one last Friday versus Indiana State (3/23). Isom took the tough luck 2-0 loss, allowing two runs nine hits, a walk, and struck out five. A southpaw like Isom, Josh Biggs is UE’s only other hurler who has tossed all nine, being done vs. Saint Louis on April 12th, 2011. He allowed four runs, five hits, a walk, and stuck out six.
100K
Sam Johns is one strikeout away from recording 100 career punch outs. Johns has been on the team for the last three seasons, but suffered a season-ending arm injury in the first inning of UE’s first game of the 2011 season at Memphis. This year, Johns has made six appearances on the mound and three starts.
CLUTCH
Jake Mahon and
Eric Stamets lead the squad in situations when they are at the plate with a runner on third and less than two outs, both owning an .800 average (8-for-10). Mahon also leads the team with seven two-out RBI and a .371 average (13-for-35) with runners in scoring position.
STRANDED DUCKS
Getting shut out twice by Indiana State, Evansville struggled to collect RBIs last weekend, leaving 24 runners on base, including 12 in Sunday’s rubber match that the Sycamores won 6-0. In that game, UE had bases loaded in the sixth inning and bases loaded with no outs in the seventh, but were unable to score.
DUELING PITCHERS
All three games in the first weekend of MVC play were pitcher’s duels with Evansville’s starting trio,
Cole Isom,
Kyle Lloyd, and
Kyle Freeland, combining for a 3.00 ERA, 19 strikeouts and just five walks.
ACE OF THE WEEK
Sophomore
Tim Bodine continued to step up for the Aces in the clutch, hitting .417 last week and led Evansville to wins over Vanderbilt, the defending Southeastern Conference Champions and 2011 College World Series contenders, as well as Indiana State in UE’s fourth bottom of the ninth walk-off win of the season. Bodine went 2-for-3 versus the Commodores in the 5-3 victory, and lined the game-tying RBI single against the Sycamores in UE’s ninth inning rally. Bodine now leads the Aces with a .353 batting average on the season and still has a perfect career fielding percentage in right field with 55 putouts this spring.
ACE ARM OF THE WEEK
Junior
Kyle Lloyd took the no-decision in UE’s 3-2 walk-off victory over Indiana State. Lloyd put the Aces in a good position for the victory, hurling eight full innings, allowing just two runs, five scattered hits and issued no walks. The right-hander also struck out a career-high nine batters, including striking out the side in the second inning and the leadoff batter in the third, for four straight Ks. On the season, Lloyd leads UE’s starting rotation with a 3-1 record and 2.73 earned run average.
MIDWEEK MASTERS
Evansville owns a perfect 6-0 record this season in games played on Tuesday or Wednesday. UE is 2-0 on Tuesdays and 4-0 on Wednesdays.
100 WINS
Head Coach
Wes Carroll recorded his 100th career win Saturday versus Indiana State in UE’s 3-2 walk-off victory. 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, and posted the second-highest victory total by a first-year baseball coach at Evansville with 25 wins in 2009. Carroll, a 2001 Evansville graduate, is in his fourth season at the helm with a 101-91 record.
COMEBACK KIDS
Prior to Wednesday’s win, Evansville’s last four home victories were all won in walk-off style, including last Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Indiana State. Trailing 2-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, UE put runners on after a walk and hit batter.
Tim Bodine and
Eric Stamets lined back-to-back singles through the left side, scoring the tying and game-winning runs with one out. Against UT Martin (3/13), 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 (3/16), 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 (3/18), UE scored four runs in the ninth, winning on
Tim Bodine’s walk-off single. In all four of those games, the Aces never led until they scored the final walk-off run.
SMALL BALL
While UE has hit just one home run this season and every other team in the Valley has belted at least nine, Evansville scores runs playing small ball. The Aces lead the MVC and rank 17th in the nation with 31 sacrifice bunts and also ranks third in the Valley for stolen bases with 41.
DOUBLE-T TRENTT
Trentt Copeland continues to move up the career doubles list, now with 51 after recording a two-bagger vs, Indiana State (3/23), Copeland now ranks ninth all-time, tied with Pat Schulz (1990-93). He needs one more to move into eighth, and three more to become seventh.
BALL MAGNET
Leading the Valley and ranking eighth in the nation, sophomore
Jake Mahon has been plunked 12 times this year, already matching his season total in 2011 that marked a team-high last year.
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, who has stolen 18 bases in 19 attempts this season, currently ranks third in program history with 88 steals (88-107) in just his third year of play. Stamets needs six 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.
