Tournament Notes (pdf)

Tournament Bracket

MVC Championship Central

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team travels to Springfield, Mo. this week with hopes of earning the program’s fourth bid to the NCAA Tournament and second MVC Tournament title in school history, as the Purple Aces compete in the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. With the No. 5 seed, UE will play in the very first game of the double-elimination clash, starting at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday at Hammons Field. The Aces will face off against the No. 4 Illinois State University Redbirds.

WHERE IT’S HAPPENING
Missouri State will serve as host for the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship for the third time in school history, from May 22-26.  The 2012 event will take place at Hammons Field, an 8,000-seat, natural grass stadium, which also serves as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals AA affiliate, the Springfield Cardinals.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Evansville enters this week’s action 20-25 (.444) all-time in 13 previous trips to the State Farm MVC Tournament. UE has reached the final game three times (1998, 2000 and 2006), winning the 2006 tournament title after rallying from the loser’s bracket to win. The last time the State Farm MVC Tournament was hosted by Missouri State was 2007, when UE went 1-2 at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo. (Bradley, 8-4, L) (Missouri State, 11-7, W) (Wichita State, 12-1, L).

WATCH THE TOURNAMENT
Every game of this year’s State Farm MVC Tournament will be available on the air. ESPN3 (www.espn3.com) will carry the first 14 games of the tournament and Fox Sports Midwest will televise the tournament final on Saturday, May 26 at 7 p.m.

OR LISTEN IN
All of Evansville’s games will be broadcasted live on 91.5 FM WUEV, as well as on the internet at wuev.org. Tom Benson will have the call.

SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS (31-17, 10-9 MVC) – Illinois State comes off a 2-1 series win over Evansville and has won nine of their last 10 games. The Redbirds lead the Valley with a .299 batting average as a team with five regular starters hitting above the .300 mark. Zac Johnson leads the squad with a .339 average, 43 RBI, and 14 doubles this spring, followed by Ty Wiesemeyer (.333, 7 3B), Matt Mirabal (.329) and Eric Aguilera (.332, 7 HR). Defensively, the Redbirds are fielding .979 with a league-low 37 errors, while the pitching staff owns a 4.41 ERA.

SCOUTING THE ACES (31-25, 10-11 MVC) – Evansville comes off a series loss to the Redbirds and 1-3 week. The Aces look to build off their last outing at Hammons field in which UE claimed the series at Missouri State that featured three spectacular pitching duels. After falling 2-0 Friday night, the Aces rallied to win 3-1 and 1-0 in games two and three over the Bears. On the season, UE’s pitching staff owns a 4.06 ERA, while the defense has a league-best .981 fielding percentage. Offensively, Eric Stamets leads the team with a .311 average, 18 doubles, and 30 stolen bases (30-37), followed by freshman Kevin Kaczmarski (.307) and junior Jason Hockemeyer (.298). Sophomore Jake Mahon enters the tournament as UE’s hottest hitter, batting .412 last week, while leading the squad with 40 RBI this spring.

THE ILLINOIS STATE SERIES
Evansville trails the all-time series with the Redbirds, 40-53-1. Last year, ISU won all four meetings, sweeping the last series of the season by scores of 9-4, 7-1, and 4-3 in Normal. The Redbirds eliminated the Aces from the MVC Tournament, edging UE, 4-3, in the 11th inning.

LAST TIME OUT
Illinois State took the series from Evansville, 2-1, over the weekend. The Redbirds edged the Aces 5-4 in game one, before UE bounced back to win game two, 3-2, despite ISU’s two-run ninth-inning rally. In the rubber match, Evansville held a 7-4 lead heading to the ninth, but the Redbirds rallied again to tie the game, 7-7. ISU scored one run in the 12^th to take an 8-7 win and series victory,

WHEW, THAT WAS LONG
Saturday’s 12-inning final game vs. Illinois State (5/19) marked UE’s longest of the season. UE’s four other games played in extras this spring went no longer than 11 frames.

PUT AWAY THE BROOMS
The Aces were never swept by any single team this season. UE’s young, resilient team also never lost more than three games in a row.

ACE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jake Mahon, So., 3B, Plain City, Ohio
Sophomore Jake Mahon led Evansville with a .412 batting average, five runs batted in, and a .588 slugging percentage on the week, as he recorded a hit in each of UE’s four games and finished the regular season with two multi-hit performances. Mahon gapped his 10th double of the season at Indiana University and in Saturday’s game vs. Illinois State, Mahon went 2-for-4 and drove home UE’s third run of the game that proved to be imperative as the Aces went on to beat the Redbirds, 3-2. In the rubber match, Mahon recorded his first career three-hit game in Valley play, going 3-for-6 with three RBI and a run scored. He also knocked his first career triple in the contest, driving in three with the bases loaded. Heading into the tournament, Mahon raised his average to .274 with a team-high 40 RBI and league-high 18 hit by pitches.

ACE PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Kyle Lloyd, Jr., RHP, Sacramento, Calif.
In his last start of the regular season, junior Kyle Lloyd (5-3, 2-0 MVC) held the MVC’s top-hitting team, Illinois State, scoreless through seven innings of work on the mound and to a .091 batting average. Lloyd limited the Redbirds to just two hits, three walks, while striking out four, as he did not allow a runner past first base in the outing and held ISU hitless in his final four and a third frames. Lloyd enters the conference tournament with a team-best 2-0 record and 2.09 ERA in MVC contests, earning wins in his last two outings.

600 ASSISTS
In the final two weeks of just his third season of play, junior Eric Stamets hit the 200-hit, 100-stolen base, and is just four assists away from the 600-assist milestone in his career. Stamets enters the MVC Tournament with 596 career assists. Four more and he will become the fourth UE player in Aces history and 14th player in Missouri Valley Conference history to reach 600 assists.

SERIES SUCCESS
For the first time since 2001, Evansville earned series wins over the trio of Creighton (2-1), Wichita State (2-1) and Missouri State (2-1). In 2001, the Aces finished with a 36-21 overall record and 17-11 in the MVC, good for third in the final standings. The last time UE beat just the Jays and Shockers was 2006. That season, Evansville was Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Champions and won three NCAA Regional Tournament games.

READY FOR REVENGE
For the third season in a row, Evansville will face the team that ended its season the year prior in the first round of the MVC Tournament. Going back to 2009, Southern Illinois swept the Aces in the last regular season series, preventing UE from advancing to the conference tournament. In the 2010 Valley Tournament, UE faced the Salukis in round one and won, 11-5. However, Wichita State eliminated UE in the Bracket B championship game, 6-5. In 2011, UE faced the Shockers in game one, but fell, 2-1 before being eliminated by Illinois State in 11 innings by a score of 4-3. Evansville opens the 2012 tournament against the Redbirds Tuesday.

SO MUCH FOR LAST
After graduating seven seniors in 2011, Evansville was expected to have a down year, consequently being chosen eighth/last in the MVC Preseason Coaches’ Poll. However, the Aces’ young squad led by head coach Wes Carroll has exceeded expectations, earning the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament with a 31-25 overall record and 10-11 mark in the MVC.

CLOSE CALLS
Evansville’s last five games of the regular season were all decided by just one run. The Aces went 2-3 in the stretch, topping Missouri State (1-0, 5/13) and Illinois State (3-2, 5/18), while falling to Indiana University (5-4, 5/15) and Illinois State twice (5-4, 5/17) (8-7, 12 inn., 5/19). On the season, UE is 11-8 in one-run games.

K-MAN
Kevin Kaczmarski enters the tournament with a 16-game reached base streak. It marks his longest of the season. Kaczmarski also owns a team-best .419 on-base percentage in his rookie season.

30-FOR-30
Capturing the 30th win of the season Sunday in UE’s 1-0 victory over Missouri State, head coach Wes Carroll has guaranteed himself his third consecutive winning season. 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 116-107 record. He recorded his 100th career win versus Indiana State (3/24) in UE’s 3-2 walk-off victory.

STAMETS MILESTONES
Stamets became the 25th Purple Ace in program history to reach the 200 career hit milestone, attaining the mark with his third hit of the afternoon in UE’s 3-1 win over Missouri State (5/12). In that same at-bat he also stole his 99th career base Stamets became just the second Ace in history to hit the 100 stolen bases milestone at IU Tuesday in his last at-bat of the game, doubling to leadoff and then swiped third before scoring on a sac fly. Stamets (100-125) sits only behind Aaron Pembroke (1995-98) who holds UE’s record with 106 career steals.

SUPERB PITCHING
Evansville and Missouri State dueled on the mound all weekend, as the teams combined for only seven runs total in three games. The Aces’ pitching staff posted a 1.04 ERA in the series, allowing just three runs and 12 hits, while striking out 18. Cole Isom and Kyle Freeland both went the distance, while Kyle Lloyd tossed eight strong before Josh Biggs closed the game-two win, as UE used just four arms total on the weekend. All three contests were completed in less than two hours.

WE’RE NUMBER 1
Evansville entered last week with a nation’s best .981 fielding percentage, but after committing three at IU, the Aces dropped to second behind Stony Brook. Evansville has committed only 40 errors this season with 1,497 putouts and 571 assists.
 
ONE-HITTER
Freeland’s one-hitter vs. MSU (5/13) marked the first since 2003 when Michael Greenhouse tossed one against Southern Illinois on April 26th.
 
POLLOCK PULLS THROUGH
Freshman Kyle Pollock was the hero offensively for Evansville in the 1-0 rubber match win over MSU (5/13), driving home sophomore Tim Bodine from third with two outs in the top of the ninth. Bodine hustled out an infield grounder to lead off the frame, moved to second on Eric Stamets’ sacrifice bunt, and advanced to third on Jake Mahon’s groundout to second.
 
EXTRA INNING SUCCESS
The Aces are 3-2 this season when going into extra innings. Prior to falling, 8-7, to Illinois State in 12 innings Sunday (5/19), UE won their last two in 11 frames against Belmont (1-0, 5/2) and Dayton (7-6, 4/20). UE is 3-1 in extra-inning games at home and 0-1 on the road, falling to Creighton (3/31), 3-2, in 10.
 
SHUTOUTS
Sunday’s, 1-0, shutout against Missouri State marked the Aces’ fourth shutout this season. The Aces have also been shut out four times this spring.
 
HOME RUN WEEKEND
Evansville belted three long balls at Dallas Baptist led by freshman Kyle Pollock’s two, after entering that weekend totaling just five as a team on the season. In game one, Pollock and freshman Kevin Kaczmarski led off the eighth inning with back-to-back solo shots, representing the first time the Aces have hit consecutive home runs since April 5th, 2011 when Greg Wallace and Cody Fick did so against Austin Peay. Pollock leads UE with four homers this season.
 
WALK-OFF WONDERS
Evansville has won six games this season in walk-off style, including their most recent, 1-0, 11-inning win over Belmont (5/2) in which Eric Stamets drove home Jordan Chavis from second. UE also topped Dayton (4/20), 7-6, in 11-innings after Chris Pearson’s double down the right field line scored Michael Eckstein for the win. UE’s other walk-off wins this spring include UT Martin (3/13 – Copeland RBI single, scoring Stamets), Western Michigan twice (3/16 – Lasher bases loaded walk in 10th, 3/18 – Bodine RBI single, scoring Copeland), and Indiana State (3/24 – Stamets RBI single, scoring Pearson).

STAMETS ON BROOKS WALLACE WATCH LIST
Eric Stamets has been selected as one of 50 Division I shortstops named to the 2012 Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award watch list by the College Baseball Hall of Fame. He has started every game of his career, 168 consecutive games, including all 56 this season, batting .311 with 39 runs, 24 RBI, and a team-high 18 doubles. The junior also leads the conference and ranks 23rd in Division I with 30 steals (30-37). With incredible range in the field, Stamets owns a .969 fielding percentage with 91 putouts and league-high 189 assists. Stamets led the Aces to their first conference win of the season with a walk-off RBI single vs. Indiana State (3/24, 3-2 W), and also had the game-winning double in the bottom of the 11th vs. Belmont (5/2, 1-0 W).

PEARSON’S GOTTA GUN
Junior catcher Chris Pearson leads the MVC, throwing out 24-of-67 runners stealing this season.

IN CONTROL
Evansville’s pitching staff has recorded the least amount of wild pitches (24) and hit batters (38) in the MVC this spring.

SMALL BALL
It is no secret that small ball is Evansville’s style of play. The Aces lead the MVC with 71 sacrifice bunts this season, 34 sac flies, and also rank first in the conference with 88 stolen bases (10 more than the next closest team). Eric Stamets leads the league with 13 sac bunts and also co-ranks first with Jake Mahon for sac flies, recording seven apiece. Stamets also leads the Valley with 30 stolen bases.
 
LET’S GET SOME RUNS
When scoring more than two runs in a game, the Aces own a 28-11 record. With two or less, they are 3-14.
 
LATE LEADERS
Evansville owns a 23-2 record when leading after the eighth. Those two losses came this last week at IU (5/15) after the Hoosier scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 defeat, and versus Illinois State (5/19) when the Redbirds scored three runs in the ninth, tying the ballgame. The Redbirds went on to win, 8-7, in the 12th inning.

200 HITS
Senior Trentt Copeland became the 24th member of UE’s 200-hit club versus Dayton (4/22) on his first of two hits that day -- an RBI down the left field line in the fourth inning. Eric Stamets followed suit at Missouri State (5/13), hitting the 200-hit mark with on his third single of the game in the eighth, becoming the 25th Purple Ace to do so.
 
MIDWEEK MASTERS
Evansville owns an 11-2 record this season on games played on Tuesday or Wednesday. UE is 3-1 on Tuesdays and 8-1 on Wednesdays.
 
DOUBLE-T TRENTT
Trentt Copeland continues to move up the career doubles list, now with 56. Copeland sits alone in sixth-place all-time at UE, surpassing Cody Fick’s 55 (2009-11). He needs one more two-bagger to move up another spot. Playing from 1998 to 2001, UE Head Coach Wes Carroll holds the record at Evansville with 74 career doubles.
 
GO THREE
Kevin Kaczmarski and Jason Hockemeyer co-rank third in the MVC with five triples this season. Kaczmarski recorded one in three consecutive games from 3/18-3/23, another in the series clincher vs. Wichita State (4/14), and one in Sunday’s game vs. Dayton (4/22). Hockemeyer recorded his most recent triple in his 2-for-4 performance in game three at Dallas Baptist (5/5). They both need to belt just one more to tie for fifth in UE’s individual season record book.
 
THIEVES
Evansville ranks first in the Missouri Valley Conference and 21st in the nation with 88 stolen bases in 116 attempts. Eric Stamets leads the conference and also ranks 18th in Division I with 30 swiped bags in 37 tries.
 
SPEEDY STAMETS
In his freshman year in 2010, Eric Stamets set the single-season steals record at Evansville with 43 (43-51). Stealing 27 (27-37) his sophomore year, Stamets surpassed his second-year total vs. APSU (5/9) when he stole three bases successfully against the Govs.
 
COMPLETE GAMES
Three active UE pitchers have recorded complete games in their careers, and they all happen to be left-handed. Sophomore Cole Isom has hurled five, including three this season versus Missouri State (5/11), Indiana State (3/23) and Wichita State (4/15). Taking the 2-0 loss at MSU, Isom threw all eight innings, scattering four hits with four walks, while striking out four. He also took the tough-luck 2-0 loss versus the Sycamores, allowing two runs, nine hits, and struck out five, but earned the win versus WSU, throwing a three-hit gem with a career-high 11 punch-outs. Freshman Kyle Freeland recorded a one-hit shutout in UE’s 1-0 victory at Missouri State, striking out a career-high 11. Freeland also threw a three-hit complete game shutout at Creighton (4/1) with six strikeouts. 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, and stuck out six.
 
TAYLOR MOVES UP
Senior Zach Taylor ranks second all-time at UE with 93 career appearances on the mound. Taylor is only behind Willie Glen’s (1998-01) 97 career appearances.
 
’06 FLASHBACKS
Evansville’s series win versus Wichita State marked the Aces’ first over the Shockers since the 2006 season. Two weeks prior to that, the Aces won the series at Creighton, also marking the first time since ’06. That season, Evansville was Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Champions and won three NCAA Regional Tournament games.
 
11-K
Cole Isom’s 11 strikeouts versus Wichita State (4/13) marked a career-high, a team season-high, and the most since Cody Fick struck out 11 on May 24, 2011, also against the Shockers in the MVC Tournament in Omaha. Freeland also matched the 11-K mark in his one-hit gem at Missouri State (5/13).
 
BALL MAGNET
Co-ranking second in the MVC, sophomore Jake Mahon has been plunked 18 times this year, exceeding his season total in 2011 (12) that marked a team-high last year. In the first 20 games this spring, the sophomore was hit 12 times.
 
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.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK HONOR PERFORMANCES
KYLE FREELAND (5/14/12) - Freshman Kyle Freeland out-dueled Baseball America’s top prospect of the MVC and foiled the league’s top conference hitting team, as he tossed a complete game, one-hit shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts in Evansville’s 1-0 rubber match victory over Missouri State. Freeland had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning, and limited MSU to just three base runners in the game, facing 29 batters. From the second to the eighth, the southpaw sat down 17 consecutive Bears, and had six perfect sides in his fourth win of the season and second complete game shutout in Valley play. The performance garnered Freeland his second MVC Pitcher of the Week accolade, as well as CollegeBaseballInsider.com Central Region Player of the Week honor, while being named a College Baseball 360 Primetime Performer.

KYLE FREELAND (4/2/12) - 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 marked Freeland’s first career Valley win, improved his season record to 2-3, while lowering his ERA to 3.82. The performance earned Freeland the MVC Pitcher of the Week (4/2) accolade.
 
COLE ISOM (4/16/12) - Sophomore Cole Isom’s three-hit, complete-game gem steered Evansville to a 4-1 victory over Wichita State April 13th at Braun Stadium and set up the Aces for their first series win over the Shockers since 2006. The southpaw struck out a career-high 11 batters in his first Valley victory of the season and did not allow a hit until the seventh inning. Isom also had a shutout into the ninth, giving up just a solo shot. In his ninth season appearance, Isom held the Shockers to a .094 batting average and lowered his season earned run average to 3.75. The performance garnered MVC Pitcher of the Week (4/16) honors for Isom.
 
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.