EVANSVILLE – After sweeping through Northern Illinois earlier this month to open the 2016 home slate, the University of Evansville baseball team will return to Charles H. Braun Stadium on Tuesday with a showdown against Indiana at 6 p.m.
The game will mark the first of two midweek contests for the Aces this week as the team will hit the road for SIUE on Wednesday afternoon.
UE (8-7) is looking put an end to a three-game losing streak after seeing its seven-game run ended last week. The Aces line-up has been particularly potent at the plate all season, with junior Trey Hair leading the charge with a .413 batting average with 12 of his 26 hits going for extra bases. The Firth, Neb., native is slugging a team-best .667 and with nine walks, he also carries a .500 on-base mark into the week.
The Aces have homered 13 times over the opening 15 games of the season, with both Korbin Williams and Jonathan Ramon leaving the park three times. In all, four Aces boast of a .300-or-better average, and the team owns a .284 average.
Alex Weigand will get the nod on the mound for UE. The freshman southpaw is 1-0 on the year, posting a 6.08 earned run average over three appearances and two starts. He’s tossed 13.1 innings the year, striking out eight in the process.
Indiana, meanwhile, is looking to bounce back from a 5-8 start to the year. The Hoosiers have won four games over the past two weekends, beating both Butler and Illinois State earlier this month before taking two of three this past weekend against Western Carolina.
SIUE, on the other hand, is looking for its first win of the season after an 0-12 start. This past weekend, the Cougars dropped all three games to Jacksonville State in Edwardsville.
First pitch on Tuesday from Braun Stadium and Wednesday from Simmons Baseball Complex is slated for 6 p.m.
NOTES: UE has lost three consecutive games for the first time since the South Alabama series on opening weekend … Eric McKibban is riding a 15-game on-base streak … Since 1978, the Aces are 16-17 against Indiana and 274-204 vs. schools that hail from the state of Indiana … UE is 16-6 against SIUE … Against Illinois schools, UE owns a 220-196 record, including a 3-0 mark this year after the NIU sweep.
