Aces and Ramblers tangle Friday and Saturday
Easter weekend will see the University of Evansville softball team head to Chicago for a 3-game series against Loyola. UE opens up the series on Friday with a noon doubleheader before playing a single game on Saturday at 11 a.m.
For the first time in five years, the Purple Aces took the regular season series against UNI, sweeping the Panthers in a doubleheader on Sunday. Entering the series, the Aces dropped 9 of the last 11 meetings. Freshman Eryn Gould went 6-of-7 from the plate while scoring five runs in the doubleheader while Morgan Florey picked up the win in each game. UE took both games by a 6-2 final.
UE freshman Eryn Gould was named the MVC Player and Newcomer of the Week on Monday following her performance against UNI. Gould entered the weekend series against UNI batting .400 on the season before an unbelievable 2-game performance saw her notch six hits in seven at-bats to raise that average to .442, third in the league. She batted an unreal .857 in the series, going 6-7 with five runs scored, two doubles, a home run, walk and an RBI. Through the first five conference outings in 2018, Gould has 11 hits in 16 at-bats and is batting .688 while getting on base 72.2% of the time.
Morgan Florey earned the victory in both wins over UNI last weekend. She started game one, going the distance while allowing two runs, one earned; in game two, she tossed four innings of scoreless relief. Florey is 5th in the NCAA with 10.7 strikeouts per seven innings while ranking seventh in total strikeouts with 155.
Since March 9, freshman Lindsay Renneisen has seen her average rise from .204 to .260. Over her last nine games, Renneisen has gone 10-26 from the plate; she notched a total of 10 hits in her first 17 college games.
Going into the series against the Panthers, senior Brittany Hay was mired in a 3-for-25 slump, but got an important boost against UNI. In the two contests, Hay was 2-7 from the plate, but her hit in game two ended up as the biggest hit of the weekend. With the game knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Hay launched her team-leading fifth homer of the season to help the Aces earn a 6-2 victory. She continues to lead the team with her five home runs and 19 RBI.
Also making an impact over the weekend were Bailee Porter and McKenzie Johnson, who each posted two hits in six at-bats, finishing at .333.
Loyola stands at 15-12 overall and are tied with the Aces in the league, sitting with a 2-3 mark. Shannon McGee leads the offense with a .448 average and a team-high 18 RBIs. Kiley Jones has earned 12 wins in the circle and has a 1.97 ERA.
Evansville has won five of the last six games against Loyola, including a series sweep last season. Morgan Florey has notched a 3-1 mark vs. Loyola with a 1.25 ERA in 28 innings of work; she has fanned 38 batters in that time.
