The University of Southern Indiana baseball team is set to host Oakland City University Wednesday at the USI Baseball Field before returning to the road in the Great Lakes Valley Conference when it visits the University of Illinois Springfield in Springfield, Illinois, this weekend. The first pitch Wednesday versus Oakland City is set for 6 p.m. while the four-game GLVC series Saturday and Sunday at Illinois Springfield is set for noon each day. Coverage of the Screaming Eagles in 2017 can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:
USI goes 3-2 last week. The Screaming Eagles (9-11) were 3-2 last week, defeating the University of Missouri-St. Louis in a walk-off ninth inning and split four games in the GLVC-opening weekend at Bellarmine University. USI junior shortstop Angel Torres led the Eagles last week, hitting .462 (6-13) and tying for the team-lead with four RBIs. Junior utility player Nathan Kuester and sophomore catcher Logan Brown also tied for the team-high with four RBIs each. Senior right-handed pitcher Justin Watts led the USI hurlers with two of the victories out of the bullpen.
Mr. Clutch. Junior utility player Nathan Kuester was “Mr. Clutch” last week for the Eagles. Kuester drove in the game-winning run against UMSL with a walk-off single in the ninth inning before producing the eventual game-winning RBI versus Bellarmine in the final frame of game two during the first doubleheader.
Climbing back to .500. Since starting the year 3-8, the Eagles have worked their way back to within two games of the .500 mark. USI has won six of the last nine games.
Last 10 games. Junior outfielder Buddy Johnson leads the Eagles over the last 10 games, batting .455 (10-22) in nine contests. Junior outfielder Drake McNamara produced a team-high eight RBIs, while four additional Eagles are tied for second with six RBIs each.
Season hitting leaders. Junior utility player Nathan Kuester leads the Eagles in hitting with a .338 batting average and 15 RBIs. He also is second on the team with two home runs. Junior outfielder Drake McNamara leads USI with four home runs.
Season pitching leaders. Senior right-hander Mike Ringer has the Eagles’ best ERA with a 1.93 in six appearances and 9.1 innings of work. Senior right-handers Lucas Barnett, Colin Nowak, and Watts are tied for the team-high with two wins each.
Archuleta at USI. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta is USI’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 387-203 (.656) in nine-plus seasons and is 535-327 (.621) in 14-plus seasons all-time as a 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 and the ABCA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year after leading USI to the regional crown in 2016. Archuleta also has earned a pair of GLVC Coach of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) at USI.
USI vs. Oakland City. USI leads the all-time series with Oakland City, 86-10, after posting a 13-2 victory last year. The Eagles also have won five of the last six match-ups.
USI vs. Illinois Springfield. The Eagles holds a 17-2 all-time series lead with Illinois Springfield after splitting the four-game series last year at the USI Baseball Field.
