 EVANSVILLE – After reeling off six straight victories for the first time since 2010, the University of Evansville baseball team will be looking to extend its impressive run into the weekend as the high-scoring Purple Aces will play a pair of games apiece against Central Connecticut and Liberty.
The Aces, who enter the weekend with a 7-4 record, are off to their best start since 2007, thanks in large part to an offense that has scored a Missouri Valley Conference-best 100 runs in just 11 games. Overall, UE is hitting .303 on the year with 12 home runs, but over the last six games, the Aces own a .381 batting average to go along with a .488 on-base mark.
Two different UE players are hitting .400 so far this season, with Korbin Williams carrying the most steam into the weekend after going yard twice in the Aces’ record-setting 29-9 thumping of UT Martin on Tuesday. The other .400 hitter, Trey Hair, has been a primary power source all year with a pair of homers and a team-best six doubles. Williams and Hair have combined to score 20 runs while knocking in another 19.
Meanwhile, Boomer Synek and his .348 average has been the main run-producer in the line-up as the Northbrook, Ill., native has a team-best 16 runs batted in.
On the mound, the Aces will turn to Patrick Schnieders once again on Friday night. In last week’s start against Northern Illinois, the junior allowed just one run on four hits over 6.0 innings of work before leaving the game with a no-decision. It was the second straight start that the right-hander had tossed five-plus innings while allowing just one run, and he enters the weekend with a 3.78 earned run average over 16.2 innings of work.
Connor Strain, who allowed a pair of earned runs over five innings at South Alabama last month, will return to the mound for Saturday’s game at Liberty. The senior right-hander went down with an injury after that USA start, and he owns a 3.60 ERA and an 0-1 record.
Brandon Gomer (0-2, 12.34 ERA) and Austin Allinger (2-0, 5.27 ERA) round out the rest of the Aces probable starters.
UE is slated to open up the weekend with Central Connecticut State (4-3) at 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday before continuing play with Liberty (7-6) at the same time on Saturday. The Aces and CCSU will square off again on Saturday, and play will wrap up for UE on Sunday with a showdown against Liberty. Both games are slated for 5 p.m.
NOTES: UE’s six-game winning streak is the longest since April 13-20, 2010 … A win on Friday would give the Aces their longest streak since another seven game stretch March 13-23, 2007 … The Aces have come back from three or more runs to win in three of their last five games … UE’s 29 runs last time out tied a nearly 20-year-old record for most runs in a game … The Aces have hit 12 home runs this season over 11 games. Last season, it took 25 games to hit 11 homers … This weekend will mark the first-ever contests between UE and both Central Connecticut and Liberty … Since 1978, the Aces are 2-0 against schools that hail from the state of Connecticut and 2-8 versus those from the state of Virginia.
