 After dropping their first Missouri Valley Conference series of the year last weekend, the University of Evansville baseball team will be looking to return to their winning form this weekend when they pay a visit to league-leading Dallas Baptist.
Conference positioning will certainly prove a big storyline for the weekend as the Aces (25-18, 7-5 MVC) enter the series trailing the Patriots (29-14, 8-3 MVC) by 1.5 games. With just nine league games remaining on the slate, the series will be a crucial one for each team going into the final two weeks of the regular season.
It will mark just the second road MVC series of the season for the Aces, and the first since taking two out of three from then-No. 16 Missouri State last month in Springfield.
UE will turn to a slightly different rotation going into the match-up too as relief ace Brent Jurceka is set to make his first career start on the mound in Saturday’s contest. The senior hurler out of Orland Park, Ill., has tossed two of the longest outings of his career in each of his last two relief appearances, and he enters the weekend with a 3.29 earned run average over 38.1 innings of work. He’s struck out 41 batters over that time and run up a 5-2 record with five saves.
The other two scheduled starters will be Patrick Schnieders, who is 4-3 on the year with a 4.03 ERA, and Alex Weigand (3-1, 4.30 ERA), who has surrendered multiple runs in just one of four conference starts this season.
While the pitching has been strong for much of the year, the Aces have also utilized an impressive line-up. Five different players boast of batting averages better than .300, and collectively, the team has logged 40 home runs this season, which is already the most for any UE team in six years. Trey Hair leads the way with a .361 average, and 27 of his 61 hits have gone for extra bases. Meanwhile, Jonathan Ramon and Korbin Williams have combined for 19 round-trippers.
DBU will also be looking to bounce back from a series loss a week ago after dropping a pair of games to Bradley. The team enters the week with a .285 batting average while averaging 6.7 runs per game.
First pitch in Friday night’s series opener at Horner Ballpark is slated for 6:30 p.m.
