EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will travel west to Carbondale, Illinois this weekend for a key Missouri Valley Conference series against long-time rival Southern Illinois at SIU’s Itchy Jones Stadium, beginning on Friday night at 6 p.m. in a game that can be seen live on ESPN+.
The series will continue on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. and conclude on Sunday with a 1 p.m. contest. Sunday’s 1 p.m. game can be seen live nationally on ESPNU. All three games can also be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.
“We are excited to be able to showcase our program on ESPNU this weekend,†said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “We have grown a lot as a program and a University since our last ESPNU appearance in 2017, and I am excited to be able to show that growth on Sunday.
“This weekend is a huge weekend for us. They always talk about ‘Moving Day’ in golf tournaments, and this weekend can be that type of series for us in the Missouri Valley Conference.â€
Evansville will enter the weekend series tied for third place in the Valley standings with a 19-13 overall record and 5-4 conference mark. The Purple Aces saw a nation’s-best eight-game road winning streak come to an end on Tuesday night, as UE fell at WKU, 6-2. Senior third baseman Brent Widder went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run to lead the way on Tuesday night for UE. Widder has been on fire of late, producing four multi-hit games over the last six contests, and he has hit .382 with four home runs and 10 RBI over UE’s last nine road games.
Southern Illinois, meanwhile, will enter this weekend’s series at 20-13 overall and 8-1 in the MVC, as the Salukis are off to their best Valley start in program history. SIU has won six games in a row and 12 out of 13 games overall after knocking off Southeast Missouri State, 8-5, on Tuesday at home. Defensively, the Salukis lead all of Division I baseball in double plays turned with 41 this year, while also leading the MVC in team batting average (.289), team slugging percentage (.482), home runs (48), and runs scored (234). Junior infielder Nathan Bandy leads SIU with a .374 batting average this year, while junior infielder Steven Loden provides the power with a team-leading 10 home runs and 34 RBI.
Evansville and SIU have met 184 times on the diamond, dating back to 1947, with the Salukis holding a 116-68 advantage over UE. SIU won last year’s season series, 3-1, including knocking Evansville out of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, 8-5, last May. UE will send junior RHP Nick Smith (2-3, 4.89 ERA) to the mound in Friday’s series opener. He is expected to be opposed by SIU RHP Ben Chapman (3-0, 4.32 ERA). Smith beat SIU last April at home with six solid innings of work in a 6-2 UE victory.
