 The University of Southern Indiana baseball team continues Great Lakes Valley Conference action when it hosts the University of Illinois Springfield for a four-game series Saturday and Sunday at the USI Baseball Field. The Screaming Eagles and the Prairie Stars are slated to play a 2 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a noon twin bill on Sunday. Live coverage four-game series versus Illinois Springfield can be found at GoUSIEagles.com.
The USI-University of Missouri-St. Louis game, originally scheduled for March 30, was postponed to April 6 at 2 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri.
SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:
500 wins for Archuleta. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta reached 500 all-time victories after the Eagles took game one of the series with Bellarmine University. After taking three of four games from the Knights last weekend, he has 502 combined wins between his seasons at USI and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Archuleta has a USI record of 354-179 (.664) in eight-plus seasons and is 502-303 (.624) in 13-plus seasons as the 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. He also has earned a pair of GLVC Coach of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) at USI.
USI in the national polls. USI moved back into the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 poll at number 30 after receiving votes last week. The Eagles also are ranked 14th in the unofficial HeroSports.com Top 25.
Eagles opened GLVC action with a 3-1 mark. USI won the first weekend of GLVC action by taking three of four from Bellarmine at the USI Baseball Field. The Eagles swept the first doubleheader, 12-1 and 4-0, before splitting the second twin bill, losing 6-3 and winning 10-6.
Leaders last week. Senior shortstop Kyle Niemeier (Evansville, Indiana) led the way versus Bellarmine by hitting .500 (7-14) with a team-high six RBIs. Senior centerfielder Hamilton Carr (Evansville, Indiana) and sophomore centerfielder Buddy Johnson (Shelbyville, Kentucky) followed with four RBIs each. Junior right-handers Colin Nowak (Carol Stream, Illinois) and Lucas Barnett (Sellersburg, Indiana) posted victories with eight and seven shutout inning, respectively.
Barnett posting shutouts. Junior right-hander Lucas Barnett has two complete game, shutouts this season and has a team-best four victories this year.
Leading the GLVC. Senior catcher/designated hitter Ryan Bertram (Zionsville, Indiana) is tied for 8th in the GLVC in RBIs (21), senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) is sixth in hits (32) and senior third baseman Trent Gunn (Tell City, Indiana) is tied for second in doubles (9).  Junior right-hander Devin Williams (Evansville, Indiana) is seventh in the conference in ERA (2.31), while junior right-hander Lucas Barnett (Sellersburg, Indiana) is third in strikeouts (36) and tied for second in wins (4).
USI leaders at the plate. Sophomore utility player Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) leads the Eagle regulars with a .388 batting average, while senior catcher/designated hitter Ryan Bertram has a team-high 21 RBIs and sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana) has three home runs.
On the bump. Junior right-hander Lucas Barnett has a team-best four victories (4-1 overall), while junior right-hander Devin Williams (Evansville, Indiana) has a team-low 2.31 ERA amongst the starting pitchers. Senior right-hander T.J. Decker (Brazil, Indiana) has a team-low 1.64 ERA in eight appearances out of the bullpen.
USI vs. Illinois Springfield. USI leads the all-time series with Illinois Springfield, 15-0, after taking all four regular season games last year. The Eagles won 7-1, 7-1, 4-1, and 12-3 on the road to earn a spot in the 2015 GLVC Tournament.
Illinois Springfield in 2016. Illinois Springfield is 9-10 in 2016, winning three of its last five games.
