EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A top-four seed in the Missouri Valley Conference will be on the line this weekend in Chicago, Illinois, as the University of Evansville baseball team will battle the red-hot UIC Flames in a three-game series at Curtis Granderson Stadium. The three-game series will begin Thursday night at 6 p.m. in a game that can be seen live on ESPN+ and heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.
| Evansville at UIC | Thursday, May 18-Saturday May 20 | 6 PM, 6 PM, 1 PM CT |
| Site | Location |
Curtis Granderson Stadium | Chicago, Ill. |
| Links |
Thursday, 6 PM: Live Stats | TV: Watch (ESPN+) | Radio: Listen WJPS-107.1 FM
Expected Pitching Match-Up: UE RHP Nick Smith (4-3, 4.41 ERA) vs. UIC LHP Brandon Bak (3-4, 4.91 ERA)
Friday, 6 PM: Live Stats | TV: Watch (ESPN+) | Radio: Listen WJPS-107.1 FM
Expected Pitching Match-Up: UE LHP Donovan Schultz (5-4, 3.93 ERA) vs. UIC RHP Kade Lancour (5-3, 6.96 ERA)
Saturday, 1 PM: Live Stats | TV: Watch (ESPN3) | Radio: Listen WJPS-107.1 FM
Expected Pitching Match-Up: UE RHP Jarrett Blunt (5-0, 3.96 ERA) vs. UIC RHP Jeff Zack (5-3, 7.50 ERA) |
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Evansville will bring a 31-21 overall record and 13-11 MVC mark into this weekend's series after Tuesday night's 6-2 loss at Indiana. Graduate utility player Eric Roberts launched his 18th and 19th home runs of the year on Tuesday night, but a late ninth-inning rally fell short for UE against the Hoosiers. With the two home runs, Roberts has closed to within just one home run of tying Ed Kothera's single-season record of 20, set in 1987. Roberts is now also just one home run and two stolen bases shy of becoming the first player in UE history to record over 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the single season. Only UNC's Mac Horvath has reached that 20-20 plateau in college baseball so far this year.
Roberts currently ranks third on the UE team in hitting with a .302 average. Fifth-year first baseman Chase Hug (.324/11/46) and junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse (.310/11/40) also hit above .300 this year for UE. Hug had his first hit as a Purple Ace against UIC last season, as the two teams split a pair of games in Evansville in early March, and will be playing in his 100th career game at UE in the series opener. Fougerousse, meanwhile, has hit safely in 19 of the last 21 games for Evansville, and he has recorded at least one multi-hit game in every MVC series so far this year.
UIC will bring a 26-21 overall record and 12-12 Valley record into this weekend's series. The Flames have won seven-straight games entering the weekend, and UIC ranks as the Valley's highest scoring offense at 7.1 runs per game. UIC second baseman Ryan Nagelbach was named the MVC Player of the Week on Monday afternoon, as he helped power the Flames' sweep of Illinois State last weekend by launching four home runs and driving in 11 in the three-game series. The UIC offense is paced this year by senior transfer Charlie Szykowny, who boasts a team-best .335 average, 16 home runs and 52 RBI entering Thursday night's opener.
The winner of the Evansville-UIC series will be guaranteed a top-four finish in next week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Terre Haute, Indiana. The top-four finish is key, as the top four squads will earn a first-day bye and not have to play until Wednesday. Currently, both teams could finish anywhere from third through sixth in the Valley standings, depending on what happens elsewhere in the league.
Evansville will send junior RHP Nick Smith (3-4, 4.41 ERA) to the mound in Thursday's opener against UIC freshman LHP Brandon Bak (3-4, 4.91 ERA). Evansville owns a 19-3 edge in the all-time series over UIC, but this weekend will be UE's first trip to Chicago since a season-ending series in the 1994 season. That series has been UE's only trip to Chicago all-time, and Evansville leads the series in the Windy City, 3-0.
