EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will travel to Murray, Kentucky this weekend for an important Missouri Valley Conference series against conference newcomer Murray State at Johnny Reagan Field.
Due to heavy rain in the forecast for Friday, the series’ schedule has changed, and the series will now begin Saturday at 2 p.m. with a single game. The two teams will then battle in a Sunday doubleheader set for 12 p.m. All three games of the series can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and the Old National Bank/Purple Aces Sports Network from Learfield.
Evansville will enter this weekend’s series at 21-15 overall and 6-6 in the MVC after Tuesday night’s 10-8 win over Western Kentucky. The Purple Aces are currently a game back of Murray State in the MVC standings, sitting in fifth place overall. This weekend could have huge implications for the upcoming MVC Tournament in May, as only the top eight teams will advance, with the top four teams earning a first-day bye and automatically advancing to the six-team, double-elimination portion of the tournament bracket. Teams seeded fifth-through-eighth will meet on the first day of the tournament in single-elimination action.
On Tuesday night, senior outfielder Mark Shallenberger hit his third home run in four games since returning from injury last weekend at Southern Illinois. Despite not seeing live pitching since February 21, Shallenberger has hit .267 over the last four games with a double, three home runs and eight RBI. He has slugged .933 and posted a .421 on-base percentage, while not striking out in 19 trips to the plate.
Graduate outfielder Eric Roberts has been one of UE’s hottest hitters of late, as he will ride a 10-game hitting streak into Saturday’s series opener. Roberts enters this weekend’s action leading the MVC in both home runs (14) and RBI (42), and on Tuesday night, he was called upon to close out the game on the mound, tossing a scoreless ninth inning to record his first save of the season. Overall, Roberts is hitting .303 this season, to rank second on the team in hitting behind fifth-year first baseman Chase Hug and his .360 team-leading batting average.
Murray State will bring a 20-18 overall record and 7-5 conference mark into this weekend’s series after splitting a pair of mid-week games this week against Alabama A&M (Won, 10-0) and UT Martin (Lost, 7-6). The Racers currently lead the MVC in scoring, with 271 runs scored this year. Junior catcher Ethan Krizen currently leads Murray State with a .355 average, while sophomore outfielder Dustin Mercer is not far behind with a .350 mark. Mercer also leads the Racers in doubles (10), home runs (nine) and runs scored (46).
This weekend’s series will mark the first meetings between UE and Murray State as MVC foes on the diamond. The two schools have a long history of meeting in mid-week action, as Evansville leads the all-time series, 41-21, dating back to the 1948 season. Murray State took the only meeting over UE last year, 3-2, in Evansville, as the Racers scored three runs in the fourth inning to pick up the road victory.
Evansville is expected to send junior RHP Nick Smith (3-3, 4.53 ERA) to the mound in Saturday’s series opener.
