After reeling off yet another Missouri Valley Conference series victory this past weekend, the University of Evansville baseball team will take a brief dip into non-conference play on Wednesday evening as the Purple Aces are set to square off against Austin Peay at Raymond C. Hand Park in Clarksville.
The Aces, who boast of a 23-15 record on the year, have thrived in midweek contests this season, thanks in large part to a heavy-hitting lineup that’s logged 39 home runs on the season, including 15 in UE’s eight games against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. However, Wednesday’s test may represent one of the toughest of the season as the Governors enter the week with six consecutive victories and a 25-13 overall record.
APSU and Vanderbilt will square off on Tuesday afternoon.
One of this past weekend’s biggest stars, Stewart Nelson, will be hoping that his stellar play against OVC opponents this season will continue into the contest. The sophomore shortstop owns a team-best .480 record over the eight games, but the duo of Korbin Williams and Boomer Synek has been similarly impressive, posting a combined .422 batting average with 18 runs and 24 runs batted in.
Meanwhile, Brian Jestice will get the nod on the mound for the Aces in what will be his second start of the season. The junior out of Hoffman Estates, Ill., has been one of the top relief arms for UE this season, and he currently owns a 2.66 ERA over 23.2 innings of work this season. He’s also logged 20 strikeouts. In OVC games this year, he’s surrendered a trio of earned runs, all at SIUE) while striking out eight over eight innings.
First pitch from Clarksville is slated for 6 p.m.
NOTES: The Aces are 6-2 against OVC opponents this season, picking up wins over Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, SIUE and UT Martin … Since 1978, UE is 40-22-2 against Austin Peay and 104-89-3 against opponents that hail from the state of Tennessee … The Aces are 3-0 versus Tennessee opponents this season, which includes a record-tying 29-9 victory over UT Martin last month … APSU took home the first meeting in the series back in 1974, and the Governors would also win the first DI meeting between the schools on March 25, 1980 … UE’s first win in the series came a season later in 1981.
