After racking up 28 runs over the last 14 innings on the field, the University of Evansville baseball team will be looking to keep its high-scoring offense rolling on Friday as the team is set to play host to Florida Gulf Coast for a three-game set at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
The Aces (12-11) are only able to officially count 13 of those 28 runs for record purposes after an unfortunate rainout on Wednesday evening wiped out a 15-0 scoreline against Indiana in Bloomington. Despite this, the Aces still boast of one of the most dangerous offenses in the Missouri Valley, and the team enters Friday’s contest posting better than seven runs per game with a .283 team batting average.
Overall, 11 UE hitters have slugged a home run this season, and the team ranks second in the Valley with 24 on the season, which already stands as the most homers by an Aces squad since the 2011 campaign.
It’s been more than just offensive excellence that has helped UE this season, beginning with senior hurler Connor Strain, who has not allowed a single score in 18 of the 19 innings that he’s pitched this season. The Shelburn, Ind., native will enter Friday with a scoreless streak in excess of 16 innings, and he’s coming off a career-best eight strikeouts in over six frames at Eastern Kentucky a week ago.
Patrick Schnieders, who will be making his sixth start of the season on Saturday, has also been impressive, and he currently boasts of a 1.80 earned run average over a team-best 30.2 innings of work. Freshman southpaw Alex Weigand will get the nod in the series finale after spending the bulk of the season to this point as a midweek starter.
Meanwhile, FGCU will enter the weekend after taking home five consecutive weekend series. Overall, the team has won four of its last five games, with the lone loss coming last Friday in 14-9 fashion at FAMU.
First pitch on Friday is slated for 6 p.m., and Saturday’s doubleheader will get started at noon.
NOTES: This weekend will mark the first-ever series between Florida Gulf Coast and Evansville … More Aces players have hit home runs this season than in any season since 2001, when 13 players left the park … The 15 runs on Wednesday at Indiana would’ve represented the most runs ever scored by the Aces against Indiana and the third-most for UE against a Big Ten opponent … Since 1978, UE is 9-30 against teams that hail from the Sunshine State.
