EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will renew its annual rivalry with the nationally-ranked Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night, as the Purple Aces will travel east to Lexington, Kentucky for a 5:30 p.m. central contest at UK’s Kentucky Proud Park. Tuesday’s game can be heard live on 107.1 FM-WJPS and it can be seen on the SEC Network+ streaming service.
Evansville will bring a 9-10 overall record into Tuesday night’s game after dropping a 6-5 decision at Michigan State on Sunday. Tuesday’s game will cap a stretch of seven out of eight games against Power Five competition for the Purple Aces. It will also be UE’s fifth game this year against nationally-ranked competition, as the Wildcats currently rank as high as 24th nationally in the Perfect Game Top 25, while also ranking 25th in the USA Today Coaches Top 25.
Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger continues to lead the UE offense with a .406 average. Shallenberger has reached base safely in 35-straight games dating back to last year, and he currently ranks 10th in NCAA Division I baseball with 10 hit-by-pitches, and 18th in Division I baseball in on-base percentage at .564. Shallenberger has not gone more than four consecutive trips to the plate without reaching base so far this year.
UK will ride a five-game winning streak into Tuesday’s contest after sweeping nationally-ranked Georgia over the weekend. Graduate infielder Nick Lopez, a transfer from USC, currently paces the UK offense with a .431 batting average, nine doubles, two triples, two home runs and 17 RBI. Lopez ranks 41st nationally in terms of batting average, while also ranking 25th in doubles. Pitching has powered the UK 17-3 start overall, as the Wildcats rank 15th nationally in team earned run average at 3.69, while ranking sixth nationally in fewest hits allowed per nine innings at 6.71.
UK leads the all-time series 11-10 over UE. The two teams met last year in Lexington, with the Wildcats posting a 6-3 victory over UE.
