EVANSVILLE – After picking up a series victory in the first conference weekend of the year, the University of Evansville baseball team will be back in non-conference action on Tuesday as the Purple Aces set out for Murray State.
The Aces (17-13) are coming off back-to-back wins over Wichita State this past weekend, and much like those two contests, UE will be depending on freshman starting pitching once again on Tuesday as Austin Allinger will be looking to repeat the kind of performances that the Aces got out of Brandon Gomer and Alex Weigand against the Shockers.
Allinger, who is 3-2 this season, will be making his seventh start of the season. The right-hander owns a 5.35 earned run average over 35.1 innings of work with 22 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the Aces line-up will be hoping to maintain its torrid pace in yet another midweek contest. UE enters the game averaging 7.2 runs per game while hitting .292 with 31 home runs, which is already the best single-season total for a UE team since 2010. Jonathan Ramon and his team leading nine homers, leads the team in runs batted in with 33, while Trey Hair is the top hitter in the Missouri Valley Conference with a .414 batting average.
Murray State, on the other hand, will be looking to get back on track after dropping two out of three to Jacksonville State in Ohio Valley action this past week. The Racers (16-19) are the fourth OVC opponent that the Aces have faced this season, which includes a series win with Eastern Kentucky, a split with SIUE and a 29-10 blowout of UT Martin.
First pitch on Tuesday is slated for 6 p.m. at Reagan Field.
NOTES: Since 1978, UE is 28-10 against Murray State … Last season, the Aces won both meetings between the two teams, taking home a 15-2 decision in Evansville before grabbing an 11-10 victory in Murray … The first meeting between UE and MSU dates all the way back to a 6-3 victory for the Aces in 1925 … Since 1978, the Aces are 112-86-2 against schools from the state of Kentucky, which includes a 2-2 mark this season.
