 The University of Evansville baseball team can finish anywhere from third to seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, but head coach Wes Carroll and his Purple Aces team will be more concerned about picking up momentum this week at Indiana State going into next week’s conference tournament.
“We need to get back to playing Evansville baseball,†Carroll said. “Hopefully, we can play our style of baseball this weekend and get some confidence and momentum going into next week. I think that will be crucial for us.â€
The Aces (26-23, 8-10), who started off the MVC season with four consecutive series victories have dropped from second in the standings down to fifth after falling in back-to-back series against Dallas Baptist and Southern Illinois. This weekend marks another chance to move back up into the top half of the conference as the Aces will be taking on the second-place Sycamores (32-18, 11-7).
Both ISU and SIU own 11-7 league marks entering the final week, which is 2.5 games off the pace of conference leading DBU (34-16, 13-4 MVC). SIU will be squaring off with fourth-place Bradley (24-19, 8-9 MVC), while both Wichita State (19-33, 8-10 MVC) and Illinois State (17-32, 7-10 MVC) check in just behind the Aces at sixth and seventh in the standings. Preseason conference favorite Missouri State (30-19, 4-13 MVC) sits in eighth place.
If the Aces are to be successful next week, Carroll believes that the process will need to start this weekend, beginning with an Aces offense that managed just five runs over three games last week against SIU.
“We need to get back to being a scrappy kind of offensive club at the top of the line-up,†Carroll explained. “Our on-base percentage hasn’t been great these last two weeks, so we need to focus on getting on base, and then having the guys in the middle of the line-up step up and drive in the runs. We haven’t been able to get those big innings, and that will be really important for us these next two weeks.â€
UE’s offense has been one of the biggest bright spots in 2016, but with the loss of power hitter Jonathan Ramon, other hitters will be expected to step up and fill his shoes. Ramon, a senior, became the first UE hitter in over six years to hit double-digit home runs earlier this season, but he’s in line to miss the rest of the year due to injury. However, despite this loss, UE may still be able to replace his production in aggregate as every player with an at-bat this season has recorded a home run. Korbin Williams, who joined Ramon with 10 homers earlier this month, leads the pack, and Trey Hair isn’t far behind him with eight round-trippers to go along with a team-best .351 batting average.
In all, four Aces players own .300 or better averages, but no one has touched the success of Boomer Synek in league play. A senior out of Northbrook, Ill., the catcher is hitting .394 in MVC games with a .469 on-base mark. Fellow senior Josh Jyawook has been impressive as well, hitting .373 with a team-best 13 runs batted in.
Meanwhile, the Aces will once again turn to Patrick Schnieders and Alex Weigand on the mound. The duo has started in every MVC series so far this season, but they’ve only recorded a winning decision twice as the UE bullpen has combined to pick up the other five victories. The duo is slated to pitch on Thursday and Friday, respectively, and Saturday’s starter for the regular season finale has not yet been determined.
First pitch at Bob Warn Field is slated for 5:30 p.m. Central.
NOTES: UE has homered 47 times this season, which is the most since leaving the park 53 times in 2010 … This weekend will mark the 100th, 101st and 102nd meetings between ISU and UE since the Aces started playing at the Division I level in 1978 … In those games, UE is 42-57 … The Aces have won each of the past three season series with the Sycamores … The first two meetings between the schools came in 1946 … The first UE win in the series was a 9-0 decision in 1948 … The first DI showdowns came in the form of a two-game split in 1978 … UE is 221-158 against Indiana schools since 1978.
