EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will take on one of the nation’s top teams on Wednesday afternoon, as the Purple Aces will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the #9 Vanderbilt Commodores at Hawkins Field. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday’s game can be seen live on the SEC Network+ streaming service.
Wednesday’s game will feature two of the nation’s top offenses when it comes to knocking doubles around the yard, as both UE and Vanderbilt rank in the nation’s top 10 so far in the category. Evansville entered the week ranked third in NCAA Division I baseball with 26 doubles, while Vanderbilt ranked sixth with 24. Evansville came up just one double shy of the program’s single-game school record for doubles on Sunday, as UE knocked seven doubles in an 18-4 win at New Orleans.
Evansville will enter Wednesday’s game at 4-3 on the season after Sunday’s win at UNO. Offensively, Evansville is hitting .339 this year, with three players hitting above .400 in junior second baseman Cal McGinnis (.469), senior shortstop Simon Scherry (.417) and graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger (.400). The Purple Aces have averaged 10.7 runs per game, and UE’s 75 runs through seven contests is the second-most in school history, behind only the 1956 squad, which scored 84 runs in its first seven games on the way to a school-best 11-0-1 start.
Vanderbilt, meanwhile, took a 5-3 overall record into Tuesday night’s game against Indiana State. The Commodores entered the week hitting .295 as a team, led by senior catcher Alan Espinal’s .393 average. Vanderbilt continues to be built around pitching and defense, as the Commodores boast a .982 fielding percentage while posting a 4.69 staff ERA with 85 strikeouts against just 37 walks in 71.0 innings of work. Vanderbilt has held the opposition to a .218 batting average so far this season.
UE will turn to senior RHP Shane Harris (1-1, 13.50 ERA) to get the start on the mound on Wednesday. Harris started last year’s contest at Vanderbilt, and held the Commodores to just a single run on two hits in 5.0 innings of work. Evansville and Vanderbilt played a marathon 17-inning contest last March in Nashville in which the Commodores picked up a 2-1 victory. The game ranked as the longest contest in Vanderbilt baseball history, and it was the second-longest game in NCAA Division I baseball last season.
