Game Notes
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Coming off a 2-1 series victory over Creighton, the University of Evansville baseball team will pause from Missouri Valley Conference play to take a midweek trip to SIU Edwardsville Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. CT at Roy E. Lee Field.
CATCH THE ACTION
EVANSVILLE (18-10, 3-3 MVC)
Last Week: 3-1
3/28 vs. Lipscomb, 5-0, W
3/30 at Creighton, 8-4, W
3/31 at Creighton, 3-2, L (10 inn)
4/1 at Creighton, 1-0, W
SCOUTING THE COUGARS (13-14, 2-4 OVC) – SIUE comes off a sweep by Eastern Kentucky, falling 8-1, 8-2, and 15-11 over the weekend. The Cougars are led offensively by Matt Highland (.306), Joel Greatting (.295), and James Vazquez (.284) as the team owns a collective .249 batting average. Defensively, the pitching staff has recorded a 5.88 earned run average with a solid field behind them, boasting a .980 fielding percentage on the season.
SCOUTING THE ACES (18-10, 3-3 MVC) – Evansville enters the midweek contest riding a huge series win over the reigning MVC regular season and tournament champions, Creighton. Sophomore
Tim Bodine leads the squad with a .329 batting average, followed by junior
Jason Hockemeyer (.304) and
Kevin Kaczmarski (.292). Junior
Eric Stamets (.284) brings a 15-game on-base streak into the contest, while leading the team on the base paths, stealing 19 bases (19-for-21) this spring. Sophomore right-hander
Ryan Billo looks to keep his perfect record intact, searching for his fifth win of the season. As a staff, UE’s pitchers boast a collective 3.37 ERA, while the defense owns a .981 fielding percentage.
PITCHING PROBABLES
UE: RHP
Ryan Billo (4-0, 2.15 ERA, 29.1 IP, 7 BB, 20 K)
SIUE: TBD
THE SERIES
Evansville leads the all-time series, 10-9, as the squads split a home-and-home series last season. UE won the first 2011 meeting at Braun Stadium, 5-3, on April 6
th, but fell in Edwardsville, 4-1, on May 17
th.
MVC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Kyle Freeland, Fr., RHP, Denver, Colo.
1-1 AP-GS, 0.00 ERA, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, .103 BAA
Freshman southpaw Kyle Freeland tossed a three-hit complete game shutout in Evansville’s, 1-0, rubber match victory in Omaha, leading UE to its first series victory over Creighton since 2006. Freeland logged six strikeouts, including striking out the side in the third and put an exclamation point on his gem with a punch out to end the game. Despite just a single run of support, Freeland kept the Jays off the board through all nine, throwing a perfect game into the fifth inning and retired the first 14 batters of the contest. The shutout marks Freeland’s first career Valley win, improving his season record to 2-3, while lowering his ERA to 3.82. The performance earned Freeland the MVC Pitcher of the Week accolade.
ACE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Chris Pearson, Jr., C, Greenwood, Ind.
4-4 GP-GS, .385 Avg., 13 AB, 3 R, 5 H, .385 Slg%, 3 BB, .500 Ob%
Junior catcher Chris Pearson led Evansville to a 3-1 week, including a series victory over Creighton, batting .385 with a .500 on-base percentage. In UE’s 5-0 win over Lipscomb, Pearson went 3-for-3 at the plate with a run scored. With the game tied against Creighton Friday night, Pearson sparked a four-run ninth inning rally with a line drive single and scored the go-ahead run in the victory. The junior also led the offense on Saturday with a single and run scored, as he totaled three runs on the week. Pearson also was a leader on defense, catching all four games on the week, including Kyle Freeland’s complete game shutout in Sunday’s rubber match.
BIG SERIES WIN
Evansville’s 2-1 series win in Omaha marked the Aces’ first over the Jays since 2006. In 2006 Evansville won the Missouri Valley Conference title and went on to win three NCAA Tournament games.
COPELAND GOES YARD
Senior
Trentt Copeland roped his first home run of the season and sixth long-ball of his career to lead off the top of the fifth inning, representing the only run of the ballgame Sunday as Evansville topped Creighton, 1-0, in the series rubber match. It also marked just the second home run hit this season by the Aces.
GAME LEADERS
Going 3-1 on the week, Evansville scored first in all four games and never trailed except for when Creighton scored the walk-off run in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday afternoon.
MIDWEEK MASTERS
Evansville owns a 6-0 record this season on games played on Tuesday or Wednesday. UE is 2-0 on Tuesdays and 4-0 on Wednesdays.
COMBO DEAL
Last Wednesday night’s combined shutout over Lipscomb marked the Aces’ first shutout of the season and first combined shutout since Kyle Lloyd and James Kohler worked together to beat IPFW, 11-0, on April 1, 2011. Freeland’s complete-game shutout on Sunday represented UE’s first since Cody Fick’s gem at Bradley (2-0, W) on April 24, 2011.
ON DECK
Evansville will continue Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend in Carbondale, Ill. when the Aces take on Southern Illinois for a three-game series. Game one begins Friday at 3:00 p.m. CT.
