Aces and Redbirds set for conference series in Normal

4/13/2017 1:41:00 PM

UPDATE: Due to inclement weather, first pitch on Friday has been moved up to 3 p.m. on Friday.

EVANSVILLE – Two teams will be looking to get their Missouri Valley Conference records back on track this weekend as the University of Evansville baseball team will hit the road to square off against Illinois State at Duffy Bass Field in Normal.

Both teams enter the weekend looking to make a move out of the bottom half of the league standings after the first two weeks of league play. Evansville (10-22, 1-5 MVC) is coming off back-to-back series that have been decided by the slimmest of margins. Two weeks ago, the Aces dropped a one-run contest and another that was decided via walk-off on the way to a three-game sweep at the hands of Southern Illinois, which was tabbed as one of the preseason favorites in the league. Last weekend, UE was a hit away from sending things into extra innings in a 5-3 rubber-game loss to Indiana State.

Meanwhile, ISU (10-21, 0-3 MVC) is coming off a non-conference series victory over Dayton. The Redbirds opened the conference slate at league favorites Dallas Baptist two weeks ago, falling in all three contests by a combined 28-12 margin. Earlier this week, ISU fell 6-5 in 10 innings to Illinois before bouncing back for a 7-5 win over Illinois Wesleyan.

If UE is to get back on track this weekend, chances are that starting pitching will play a role in the outcome. Both of UE's wins last week came in games where the starting pitcher earned a quality start. Alex Weigand allowed one hit in six innings against Southern Indiana, and Connor Strain followed up on the weekend with seven scoreless against the Sycamores.

Strain, a senior out of Shelburn, Ind., saw his record improve to 1-2 with a 3.58 earned run average over 32.2 innings. Meanwhile, Patrick Schnieders, who has been unfortunate not to earn the win in a number of quality starts this season, suffered his shortest outing of the season after giving up five runs in 2.2 frames. The Westphalia, Mo., product will be hoping to channel the form that got him off to a strong start this season, and he enters the series with a 2-4 overall record with a 3.46 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 41.2 innings.

Justin Hayden (2-5, 7.23 ERA) will get the nod on Sunday.

Offensively, the Aces have been held to four or fewer runs in 12 of the past 15 games, posting a 3-12 record in the process. Only two players, Craig Shepherd (.301) and Korbin Williams (.308), own an average better than .300 for the season. Preseason All-American Trey Hair just barely misses the mark at .299 with team- leading totals in doubles (15), runs (22) and runs batted in (22), and Kenton Crews is looking to rebound from a weekend that saw his average drop considerably to .295 with 13 scores and eight RBI.

Travis Tokarek, who is hitting .268 this season, leads the Aces in homers with five, which is four more than he recorded in his first two seasons combined.

First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m., and the series will continue Saturday and Sunday with starts slated for 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. All three games will be broadcast live on The Valley on ESPN3.

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