The Great Lakes Valley Conference coaches voted three University of Southern Indiana Men’s Tennis players to the All-Great Lakes Valley Conference Tennis Team. Senior Jack Joyce(Bournemouth, England), sophomore Samuel Kiladejo (London, England), and freshman James Hardiman (Blackwell Bristol, United Kingdom) were honored for their play during the 2015-16 season at Thursday night’s GLVC Tennis Awards Banquet. The three honorees is the most for the Screaming Eagles since 2012 when USI had three members of the all-conference team.

Joyce is earning All-Conference honors for the third time in his four-year career at USI after posting a 17-5 mark in singles play and a 16-6 record in doubles. The 2013 GLVC Freshman of the Year’s senior campaign was highlighted by an 11-match singles win streak and an 11-match doubles win streak over the same duration. Both streaks were snapped in the regular season finale. With 74 career singles wins (fifth in USI history) and 79 career doubles wins (tied for fifth in USI History), Joyce is currently third for combined career wins in the USI record book.

Kiladejo is the 15^th USI men’s tennis player to earn multiple All-GLVC awards after receiving the same honor as a freshman after the 2014-15 season. The native of London, England, is currently ranked as the #14 singles player in the Midwest Region with a record of 14-9. In doubles play, Kiladejo has partnered with junior Paul Forichon (Nimes, France) to earn a number-six ranking in the Midwest Region with a 10-4 mark together. For the season, the sophomore is 15-7 with most matches coming at number-one doubles.

The fourth Eagle freshman to receive the honor since 2010, Hardiman finished the year with an undefeated, 12-0, combined record in conference matches. The freshman, currently, is in the middle of a 10-match singles win streak, while he has won his past 13 doubles matches, teaming with junior Aaron Barris (Marietta, Georgia). During the final week of the regular season, Hardiman had four wins, highlighted by two singles wins over ranked region opponents, to win the final GLVC Player of the Week Award of the 2015-16 season.

USI (15-3, 5-1 GLVC) begins play in the quarterfinal round of the GLVC Tennis Tournament Friday morning. In the opening round, the Eagles will take on Rockhurst University for the second consecutive year at 9 a.m. at Plainfield East High School in Plainfield, Illinois

 University of Southern Indiana sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana) and freshman left-hander Chase Partain(Evansville, Indiana) led the Screaming Eagles to a dominating 10-1 victory over the University of Missouri-St. Louis Thursday afternoon at the USI Baseball Field. USI saw its record go to 26-16 overall, while UMSL falls to 24-17 overall.

Griggs led a USI offensive explosion by driving in six of 10 runs on a pair of home runs and a single. The sophomore gave USI a 2-0 lead in the third with a two-run single before hitting a three-run home run in the five-run sixth and giving USI a 10-0 lead in the eighth with a solo shot.

The Eagles scored their 10 runs on 11 hits with two in the third, two in the fourth, five in the sixth, and one in the eighth. UMSL picked up its only run in the ninth on a home run before USI closed out the 10-1 win.

USI senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) smacked a two-run double in the five-run sixth for his record-tying 270^th career hit. Kempf ties Mike Peerman, who set the 270 hit record between 1997 and 2000.

Partain (1-0) pitched seven scoreless inning in his first collegiate start to earn his first collegiate win. The freshman allowed three hits and four walks, while striking out four.

Junior right-hander Mike Ringer (Springfield, Illinois) pitched a scoreless eighth, while freshman right-hander Ryan Gulledge (Evansville, Indiana) allowed the run in the ninth before the Eagles closed out the victory.

The Eagles concludes their 10-game homestand with a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series against Saint Joseph’s College at the USI Baseball Field. Live coverage of four-game series can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.

USI trails the all-time series with Saint Joseph’s, 41-38, after losing three of four to the Pumas in Rensselaer, Indiana, during 2015. The Eagles, who are 13-7 in the 2016 GLVC season, have won nine of the last 11 games with the Pumas at the USI Baseball Field.

The Pumas of Saint Joseph’s are 24-18 overall and 12-8 in the GLVC during the 2016 campaign. Saint Joseph’s, currently, is in third in the GLVC East Division after sweeping four games from McKendree University over the weekend.

 After picking up three consecutive Missouri Valley Conference series victories to begin league play, the University of Evansville baseball team will be back in action this weekend as the Purple Aces will take on visiting Illinois State at Charles H. Braun Stadium, beginning with a doubleheader on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

The Aces, who were picked seventh in the preseason coaches’ poll, enter the weekend with a 23-15 overall record, including a 6-3 mark in league play, which puts them 1.5 games off the pace of conference-leading Dallas Baptist. ISU, on the other hand, will be looking to get back on track after dropping six of their first eight MVC games, and the Redbirds enter the weekend with a 12-27 mark overall.

Thanks in large part to yet another impressive offensive weekend, the Aces are entering the series with a lot of momentum after taking two out of three from then-No. 16 Missouri State in Springfield. Through the nine conference games this year, no offense has put up better league numbers than the Aces as UE enters the weekend with a .285 batting average and 31 extra-base hits, including 10 home runs.

The hefty numbers are just a continuation of what the Aces have put together all season, highlighted by 39 homers, which is the most for any UE squad since 2010. Eleven different players have left the park this season, led by the duo of Jonathan Ramon and Korbin Williams, who have each logged nine round-trippers on the year. The duo ranks among five Aces players with .300-or-better averages.

Meanwhile on the mound, UE will once again turn to a pair of freshman arms in Brandon Gomer and Alex Weigand as well as the steadying presence of junior Patrick Schnieders. Both Schnieders and Gomer will get the nod on Friday, and Weigand, who has helped UE pick up wins in three consecutive rubber games, is slated to start on Saturday.

First pitch from Braun Stadium on Friday is slated for 3:30 p.m., and the day’s second game will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first. Saturday’s series finale will begin at 2 p.m.

NOTES: UE will be aiming to win a fourth consecutive league series for the first time since the 2014 campaign … Since 1978, the Aces are 51-57 all-time against Illinois State … The first meeting between the two schools was a 1-1 tie in 1948 … Last season, the Aces took home two out of three in a series that was staged in Normal … UE won all three meetings by a combined 27-6 score in 2014, which was the previous trip to Evansville for the Redbirds.