CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The University of Evansville baseball team will play its final conference series away from home this weekend.
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The Purple Aces will play their final road series of 2025 this weekend over in Carbondale, Ill. UE will hope to bounce back from a tough week at home in Evansville and snap a five-game losing streak. The Aces will play three games at Southern Illinois to try and stay in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. UE currently sits in eighth in the conference standings as the final team in the MVC Tournament. But Evansville is only a game ahead of the Bradley Braves, who have won two of their last three Valley series. The two teams' postseason fate could come down to their series next week at Charles H. Braun Stadium, depending on results this weekend.Â
The Salukis enter the weekend with a 13-8 MVC record for the third seed in the conference tournament. Southern Illinois is just two games back from Valley leaders Missouri State with six MVC games left in the regular season. The Salukis have had a strong year with an overall 33-15 record for their best season in three years. Southern Illinois has the second strongest pitching staff in the Valley with a team ERA of 4.99, led by senior Friday night starter Alec Nigut. Nigut has a season record of 7-2 with an ERA of 4.01, as his seven victories currently lead the MVC.Â
Evansville has had a big week of multi-base hits despite the teams' recent final scores. The Aces added four home runs and six doubles against Belmont last weekend while UE had three doubles and a triple at USI on Wednesday night. In those four games, senior outfielder Harrison Taubert (Casper, Wyo. / Northeast CC) has led the team with three multi-base hits with two doubles, and a home run. While senior catcher Evan Waggoner (Bedford, Ind. / Bedford North Lawrence HS), graduate designated hitter Matt Flaherty (Lake Zurich, Ill. / Bellarmine), and freshman first baseman Jake McGhee (Fenton, Mo. / Christian Brothers Academy)Â had two multi-base hits each.Â
The Aces' Friday night starters the past two weeks have had career performances on the mound for UE. On Friday, April 25, sophomore LHP Kenton Deverman (Dardenne Prairie, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt West HS)Â threw a career-high 10 batters through 6.2 innings of work. Deverman's 10 strikeouts was the first game for UE with one pitcher having 10 or more K's since 2023. On Friday, May 2, sophomore RHP Kellen Roberts (Monroe, Mich. / Monroe HS) had a career-high game across the board. Pitching to Belmont, Roberts threw a career-high five innings, scattering four hits with two runs, one walk, and a career-high six strikeouts.Â
