UE faces SIU in 3-game set

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another 3-game road series is on the slate this weekend for the University of Evansville softball team as the Purple Aces travel to Carbondale to face Southern Illinois.   ESPN+ will have the live coverage of all three games.

Last Time Out

– Drake took the opening two games of last weekend’s series in Des Moines before Evansville came back to take a 7-2 win in Sunday’s finale

– Brooke Voss went 4-for-4 with two runs scored in the victory while Alexa Davis went 3-4 with three runs and two RBI

– Taylor Howe belted her first home run of the season while registering a career-best four runs batted in

– In the circle, Sydney Weatherford earned her fourth win of the season with two unearned runs scoring in seven innings

Perfect Performance

– Brooke Voss recorded a career-best four hits in four plate appearances in Sunday’s finale at Drake

– In the final two games of the weekend, Voss went 5-for-6

– Over her last 17 games, Voss is batting .373 with 19 hits in 51 at-bats while seeing her batting average rise from .146 to its current mark of .273

– Voss finished the UIC series going 3-7 with two runs in the final two games of the series

Evansville’s Ace

– Sydney Weatherford kept things rolling at Drake, completing the weekend with her fourth victory of the season in a complete-game performance

– Sunday’s game saw her allow two unearned runs on six hits

– Over her last eight appearances, Weatherford has allowed just eight earned runs in 50 innings of work

– She picked up her third win of the season in the finale against UIC; in two games against the Flames, she allowed two earned runs in 14 frames

– Her MVC earned run average is 1.43 while her season ERA is just 1.91

Career Game

– Sunday’s finale at Drake saw Taylor Howe finish with one of the best games of her career

– Howe went 2-3 with a home run and a career-high four RBI

– Entering the game, Howe had just one RBI in her first 23 games of the season

– The performance ended a 1-for-13 showing at the plate in her prior seven outings

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  Two of the hottest teams in the Missouri Valley Conference will square off this weekend at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville, Indiana, as the surging University of Evansville Purple Aces will do battle with the red-hot Redbirds of Illinois State.  The series will begin Friday night at 6 p.m. and continue both Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) afternoon.

Evansville will enter the weekend series having won five out of the last six games, and six out of eight games overall, after knocking off Butler, 15-5, in seven innings on Tuesday.  The Purple Aces are 15-17 overall and 4-5 in the MVC, and sit in a four-way tie for fifth place in the Valley standings.

Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger, the current MVC Player of the Week, currently leads the UE offense with a .376 average.  Shallenberger ranks second in the Valley in batting average, while ranking in the league’s top 10 in ten different offensive categories this year.  Junior outfielder Harrison Taubert is not far behind with a .333 average overall, and a team-best .455 average in MVC play.  In league play, Taubert ranks second in the Valley in batting average, on-base percentage (.571), and hits (15), while being tied for the league-lead with five Valley doubles.

Illinois State has been the surprise team of the league race so far, as the Redbirds are currently tied for first in the Valley standings with an 18-12 overall record and 7-2 conference mark.  Illinois State was predicted to finish seventh in the league’s pre-season poll.  The Redbirds have won eight of their last nine games after a 7-4 win at Western Illinois on Wednesday.  Overall, ISU leads the league in team batting average this year at .303, as six Redbird regulars hit above .300 on the season.  Sophomore Daniel Pacella leads the every-day Redbirds with a .364 average, while he leads the Valley with 44 RBI already.

Overall, Illinois State leads the series over Evansville, 68-58-1.  The Purple Aces won two out of three games at Illinois State last year, and the Purple Aces have won five of the last six series meetings overall.  Evansville will turn to freshman left-hander Kenton Deverman (3-1, 4.56 ERA) to start Friday’s series opener.  All three games of the series this weekend can be heard live on 107.1 FM-WJPS and seen live on ESPN+.  Tickets for all three games are also available by contacting the UE athletic ticket office by phone at 812-488-2623.

Pelham, Al.:  Game one of the best-of-three series against the Bulls went down to the wire, with the Thunderbolts just barely falling short, 5-4 in Pelham on Wednesday night, and now must win on home ice on Thursday to keep the season alive.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Thursday, April 11^th against the Birmingham Bulls, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

The Bulls opened the scoring once again, with Scott Donahue redirecting in a shot at 2:18 to make it 1-0 Birmingham.  Evansville rallied to tie and briefly take a 2-1 lead, with goals from Dmitri Yushkevich at 3:49 from Scott Kirton and Matt Dorsey, and Myles Abbate unassisted at 17:16.  Shortly after Abbate’s goal, the Bulls tied the game back up at 2-2 on a goal from Zac Masson at 18:01.  The Bulls controlled play in the second period but were held to only a single goal, scored by Ryan Romeo at 11:05.  Down 3-2 going into the third period, Evansville had a strong first half and tied the game again, as Brendan Harrogate scored on a power play from Lincoln Hatten at 7:52.  However, late penalties cost Evansville, as Nikita Kozyrev scored just following a Bulls power play at 14:59, followed by Drake Glover on another power play at 15:31 to give Birmingham a 5-3 lead.  In a late rally, Logan vande Meerakker scored to make it a 5-4 game with 40 seconds remaining, however the Thunderbolts ran out of time after that.  Evansville now must win on Ford Center ice on Thursday to force a decisive third game in Pelham on Saturday.

Yushkevich, Abbate, Harrogate, and vande Meerakker scored one goal each, while Kirton finished with two assists.  In goal, Cole Ceci finished with 29 saves on 34 shots.

Comer transfers to UE from Eastern Kentucky

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Former Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman Team member Tashawn Comer has officially joined the University of Evansville men’s basketball team.  The Eastern Kentucky transfer is a native of Indianapolis where he played for Cathedral High School.

“We are extremely excited to add Tayshawn and his family to our Aces family.

I have had the privilege of knowing Tayshawn since he was a junior in high school,” UE head men’s basketball coach David Ragland said.  “I have always admired his passion for the game of basketball and his work ethic to improve his game.  Tayshawn is extremely competitive and committed to doing what it takes for his team to win.  He has won everywhere that he has been and possesses all the attributes of a leader.”

“Tayshawn prides himself on defending and creating for his teammates both characteristics we were looking to add at the point guard position. My staff and I felt it was necessary to add an experienced point guard to our roster to help us make another jump towards playing in the NCAA tournament next spring,” Ragland continued.  “We have been focused on not only really good players but also really good people to our roster and Tayshawn fits our profile.”

“Aces fan will love watching Tayshawn play in an Aces uniform.”

Comer completed his sophomore season for the Colonels averaging 7.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.  He dished out 92 assists while recording 26 steals.  His 92 helpers was second on the team while his steal total was tied for third.  With an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6, Comer ranked 9^th in the ASUN.

He played some of his best basketball as the 2023-24 season came to a close.  After scoring 22 points versus Central Arkansas, Comer reset his career mark with 23 points at Austin Peay on February 28.  In nine games in the month of February, he averaged 12.4 points per game.  Comer’s efforts in the last four contests of the month saw him post 16 PPG while shooting 55.3%.

One of his top all-around performances of the year came on Feb. 7 where he finished with nine points, six assists, three rebounds and a steal against Florida Gulf Coast.

“To the University of Evansville and our community, I am excited to come here to win and help the program get back to where it used to be,” Comer stated.

As a freshman in 2022-23, Comer paced EKU with 134 assists while finishing seventh in the ASUN with his mark of 3.6 per game.  He was named to the ASUN All-Freshman Team for his efforts in his inaugural collegiate season.

Prior to joining the Colonels, Comer was named the Indianapolis City Player of the Year while garnering All-State recognition.  ESPN rated him a 3-star recruit and the 40^th-ranked point guard in the nation.  The finalist for Indiana Mr. Basketball posted 17 points, 6.2 assists and 3.3 rebounds in his senior campaign.

Petrova won the Indiana State Invitational on Monday

1. LOUIS – On the heels of her second consecutive Indiana State Invitational championship, University of Evansville women’s golfer Kate Petrova has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week.  Petrova shares the accolade three others in the league who were medalists in their respective tournaments.

Petrova paced the field at the Country Club of Terre Haute for the second season in a row on her way to the victory.  She opened the tournament with a 1-under 71 and sat in a tie for the lead following the first 18 holes.  Completing the second round with a 1-over 73, Petrova defeated the competition by two strokes.

Her efforts helped the Purple Aces pick up a runner-up finish in the team standings.  Petrova and the Aces are focused on the upcoming MVC Championship, which takes place April 14-16 in Waterloo, Ill.  Petrova is the defending league champion and helped UE tie for second place last season.