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UE Game Notes - VANDY Game Notes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Evansville Purple Aces baseball team (4-2) plays a mid-week game at #1 Vanderbilt on Tuesday afternoon. The contest will be held at Charles Hawkins field in Nashville, Tenn. and begin at 4:00 p.m.
 
PITCHING MATCHUP
UE RHP Ryan Billo (0-0, 1.42 ERA) vs. VANDY RHP Walker Buehler (Season Debut)
 
HOW CAN I FOLLOW ALONG?
The game will be broadcast live on WUEV 91.5 FM. Tom Benson and Lance Wilkerson will have the call beginning at 3:45 p.m.
 
Fans can also follow the team's progress on twitter. Updates will be posted on the @UEAthletics account as well as @UEMediaMike, the Assistant Sports Information Director and baseball contact.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Purple Aces swept a doubleheader from Western Kentucky in Emerson, Ga. On Sunday, Feb. 22. UE won the first game 11-10 in 10 innings before claiming the last contest 9-8. The doubleheader sweep secured a series win for Evansville.
 
CHECKING OUT THE COMMODORES
Vanderbilt (9-2) is ranked #1 by Baseball America and D1Baseball.com , #4 according to Collegiate Baseball and #5 by the NCBWA. The Commodores just completed a home sweep of Illinois State, a Missouri Valley Conference member, and have won each of their last five games.
 
THE SERIES
Vanderbilt leads the all-time series 32-18 against UE. Evansville won the last meeting 8-3 on Feb. 26, 2014 when the Commodores were ranked #4 in the country. Outfielder Kevin Kaczmarski was 1-for-3 in the game with a three-run triple. Eight different pitchers threw on the mound for the Aces in the five run win over the 4^th ranked team in the nation.
 
UE STATISTICALLY
Statistically, Evansville is led offensively by outfielder Kevin Kaczmarski who is hitting .480 this season with a team-best 12 hits. Outfielder Korbin Williams hit two home runs vs. Western Kentucky and tops the UE leaderboard in that statistic. Outfielder Josh Jyawook (8) and infielder Boomer Synek (7) have the highest RBI totals for the Purple Aces this season. Four different UE pitchers have recorded wins and three Aces pitches have at least one save. The team is cumulatively hitting .307 this season with a 4.06 team ERA.
 
VANDY STATISTICALLY
The Commodores paced offensively by infielder Dansby Swanson who is hitting .370 this season with a team-best 12 runs, 17 hits, two triples, and four stolen bases. Infielder Zander Wiel has the most home runs (2) and runs batted in (15) for the Commodores. On the pitching side, Vanderbilt has seven pitchers who have accumulated at least one win each. Reliever Philip Pfeifer has two saves this year, most of any Commodore. Starting pitcher Carson Fulmer has a team-high 24 strikeouts.
 
KORBIN CRUSHING IT
Outfielder Korbin Williams hit two home runs against Western Kentucky in the first game of a doubleheader on Feb. 22. Williams hit his first career home run in the fifth inning, a three run blast, and then hit the go-ahead home run in the 10th for an 11-10 Aces win.
 
HOLDING ON
The Aces pitchers held on to sweep both games of a doubleheader from WKU on Feb. 22. UE held a 10-3 lead in the opening contest before winning game one 11-10 in 10 innings. Evansville was also ahead 8-2 in the final game of the doubleheader before earning a narrow 9-8 win.
 
NO JOSHING AROUND
Outfielder Josh Jyawook was named MVC Player of the Week on Feb. 16 for his opening series at UALR. Jyawook hit .385 in the set at three runs scored, a grand slam home run, and eight runs batted in. His three runs scored and eight RBIs were an MVC best.
 
LET'S PLAY WIN TWO
The Purple Aces played and won both games of a doubleheader at UALR on Feb. 14 winning the first contest 7-2 before finishing a sweep with a 16-3, seven inning victory in game two. UE also swept a doubleheader from Western Kentucky on Feb. 22 with an 11-10, 10 inning win in the opener and a 9-8 victory in the finale.
 
BRILLIANT BULLPEN
The UE bullpen posted a 0.00 ERA on the opening weekend series at UALR. Right-hander Ryan Billo threw 5.0 scoreless innings on Friday, Feb. 13. Left-hander Patrick Schnieders tossed 4.0 innings without allowing a run in game one on Feb. 14 and righty Ryan Brady threw a scoreless frame in game two.
 
WE'RE GOING STREAKING
Second baseman Brett Synek is currently on a 27-game on-base streak after reaching base in all six games this season and ending the 2014 season with a 21-game on-base streak. The last game in which Synek did not reach base was on April 13, 2014 vs. Wichita State.
 
BRING IT ON BACK
The Purple Aces bring back 19 letterwinners from last season. On the hitting side, UE returns 73.3% of its run support from last season but lose 35% of their home run numbers from last year. The Aces also have 70% of their RBI total from last season back for another year. Pitching wise, Evansville lost 62% of their win total and 79% of their saves total due to graduation and the draft. 
 
ACES TAPE
Infielder Jonathan Ramon will be blogging the entire Aces' baseball season on GoPurpleAces.com . Ramon is in his third season with the Purple Aces and will be blogging once a week on the UE Athletics website. He began the blog on the January 23 and will continue to blog until the completion of the Evansville baseball season.
 
THE PREDICTIONS ARE IN
The University of Evansville baseball team was projected to finish fifth in the 2015 MVC preseason poll. The Aces garnered 28 total points in this year's poll that was voted on by the league's coaches. Dallas Baptist was selected as the league favorite with seven of the eight first-place votes and 63 points overall. The Patriots topped Missouri State who received one first-place vote and 53 points for second. Wichita State (43) narrowly edged out the 2014 MVC Tournament champions, Indiana State (42) for third. Following the reigning regular season champion Purple Aces, Illinois State (26), Bradley (18) and Southern Illinois (15) rounded out the poll.
 
CONSISTENT KAZ
Outfielder Kevin Kaczmarski, who was an All-MVC First Team selection each of the last two seasons, was one of three outfielders named to the Preseason All-MVC Team.  The Cary, Ill., native led UE with a .315 batting average, .502 slugging percentage, 19 doubles, 50 runs batted in, 110 total bases and eight sacrifice flies. Kaczmarski has been named all-MVC each of the last three seasons.
 
WE'RE GOING HOME
UE has their first home game at Braun Stadium on Friday, March 6 when they play Western Illinois as part of a four-game weekend series.