The University of Southern Indiana baseball team starts a three-game set with GLVC front-running and fourth-ranked Quincy University Saturday and Sunday at the USI Baseball Field. The series starts Saturday with 2 p.m. doubleheader and concludes Sunday with a noon single game.
Following the USI’s three-game set with Quincy, the Screaming Eagles finish the five-game homestand April 16 with a non-conference game versus Kentucky Wesleyan College. The final game of the homestand is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Coverage of the Screaming Eagles baseball games this season can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:
Eagles start week with a victory. Sophomore outfielder Aaron Euler hits a pair of home runs and led the Eagles to a 16-7 victory over McKendree University to start a five-game homestand. Euler, who finished the game with four hits, three runs scored, and five RBIs, highlighted USI’s six-run first inning with a three-run blast and sent his third hit of the game over the right-center fence for a two-run blast.
USI rolling along. USI has been rolling through the schedule since snapping a six-game losing streak in early March. The Eagles have won 14 of the last 19 games that included winning streaks of four and five games. The USI bats are hitting .320, 19 points better than the season average (.301), and averaging 9.1 runs per game, one run better than the season average during the 19-game stretch.
Hitting Leaders. Junior rightfielder Manny Lopez and freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew lead the Eagle hitters with .356 and .355 batting averages, respectfully. Senior first baseman Nathan Kuester had a team-best 33 RBIs, while Lopez and McNew are tied for second with 30 RBIs each.
McNew going deep. Freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew leads the Eagles with seven home runs this season, followed by sophomore outfielder Aaron Euler with six round trippers.
Euler has the hot stick. Sophomore outfielder Aaron Euler has had the hot stick for the Eagles over the last four games. The left-handed hitting outfielder is batting .444 (8-18) with six runs scored, one double, four home runs (of the five hit by USI as a team), and eight RBIs.
Multi-Home Run Games for USI. Three USI hitters – junior rightfielder Manny Lopez, sophomore leftfielder Aaron Euler, freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew – have combined for five multi-home run games this season. Euler and McNew have a pair of two-home run games each, while Lopez has one.
Pitching Leaders. Senior right-hander Austin Gossmann leads USI with a 5-1 record and 50 strikeouts and a season-best 4.20 ERA. Gossmann is followed in the win column by senior right-hander Austin Krizan, who is 4-0 and has struck out 44 batters.
Barnett’s first two collegiate starts. Freshman left-hander Sammy Barnett is 2-0 in his first two collegiate starts, both wins over McKendree University. He is 3-1 overall this spring, appearing in five games total.
Archuleta at USI. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta is USI’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 467-248 in 12-plus seasons and is 615-372 in 17-plus seasons all-time as a head coach. He has been named the ABCA Division II Coach of the Year twice (2010 and 2014) after leading the Screaming Eagles to a pair of national championships and the ABCA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year after leading USI to the regional crown in 2007, 2016 and 2018. Archuleta also has earned a pair of GLVC Coach of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) at USI.
USI vs. Quincy. USI trails in the all-time series with Quincy, 43-37, and since 2015, 7-4. The Hawks also have had good fortune at the USI Baseball Field, winning four of the last five matchups.
Quincy in 2019. The Hawks are 25-7 overall and 17-4 in the GLVC after winning their mid-week game at Truman State University, 9-5. Quincy is ranked fourth nationally in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 poll and 12th nationally in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25.
USI vs. Kentucky Wesleyan. USI holds a 98-74 lead in the all-time series with KWC and has won four-of-five meetings since the Panthers left the GLVC in 2014. The Eagles also hold a series advantage at the USI Baseball Field since 2014, winning all three meetings.
Kentucky Wesleyan in 2019. The Panthers, who host Cedarville University for a four-game series this weekend, are 14-16 overall and fifth in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference with a 9-7 mark.
