EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will try to get back on the winning side of the ledger on Tuesday night, as the Purple Aces will travel north to West Lafayette, Indiana to close out a three-game home-and-home series with the Purdue Boilermakers. First-pitch is set for 5 p.m. and Tuesday's game can be seen live on the Big Ten Network Plus, and heard live on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.
Evansville will bring a 16-11 overall record into Tuesday night's game. After seeing a nine-game winning streak snapped last Wednesday against Southeast Missouri State, the Purple Aces were swept in a three-game home series by the Belmont Bruins over the weekend. The four-game home losing streak is the longest in the history of German American Bank Field, after the playing surface at Charles H. Braun Stadium was renovated in 2020.
Despite dropping four-straight, Evansville will enter Tuesday night's game at Purdue (12-14) owning the nation's longest road winning streak, as the Purple Aces have won seven-straight away from Evansville. UE is currently tied with Florida for the nation's longest road winning streak, and the Purple Aces have not lost on the road since a 2-0 loss at Middle Tennessee State on March 10.
Fifth-year first baseman Chase Hug continues to lead the UE offense with a .396 average, but Hug saw a 32-game on-base streak snapped in Sunday's series finale against Belmont. Junior shortstop Simon Scherry is second on the team in hitting at .311, after a four-hit effort in the finale against Belmont, and fifth-year outfielder Eric Roberts still leads the Missouri Valley Conference in both home runs and RBI with 12 and 35, respectively. Roberts is one of only three players in NCAA Division I baseball to currently have double-digit totals for home runs and stolen bases, as he joins North Carolina's Mac Horvath and Maryland's Matthew Shaw in that elite group.
Purdue will bring a 12-14 overall record into Tuesday night's game after winning two out of three games from Northwestern over the weekend. The Boilermakers received a walk-off solo home run in the 10th inning by junior DH Lukas Cook to win the series finale, 4-3, on Sunday. Fifth-year infielder Evan Albrecht leads Purdue with a .362 average, while redshirt-junior infielder Paul Toetz boasts a .337 average and a team-leading eight home runs and 35 RBI.
Evansville won two games from Purdue by scores of 5-2 and 6-4 over St. Patrick's Day weekend in Evansville. The third contest that was scheduled was canceled due to cold weather. UE has won six-straight games against Big Ten competition heading into Tuesday's contest.
