EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The University of Southern Indiana baseball team concludes the 2016 regular season on the road this week, traveling to play the University of Indianapolis in a showdown that will determine the winner of the GLVC East Division. The GLVC four-game series starts Friday with a noon (CDT) doubleheader at UIndy’s Greyhound Park before concluding Saturday with an 11 a.m. (CDT) doubleheader at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana.
Live coverage of the Screaming Eagles baseball games this week can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:
USI in control and looking to win GLVC East. USI (30-16, 17-7 GLVC) begins the final week of the regular season with a one game lead over UIndy (31-15, 16-8 GLVC) in the GLVC East standing with a 17-7 league mark. The Greyhounds, who are 16-8 in the conference, won the GLVC East Division by five games a year ago over the Eagles. USI is looking to win a GLVC division title for the fourth time in seven years and the East for the third time in six seasons.
Decker, Niemeier earn weekly GLVC honors. Senior right-handed pitcher T.J. Decker and senior shortstop Kyle Niemeier were named the GLVC Pitcher and Player of the Week for their efforts in USI’s 5-0 week versus the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Saint Joseph’s College. Decker had three saves, a 0.00 ERA, and 10 strikeouts in three appearances, while Niemeier batted .571 (8-14) with nine runs scored and four RBIs.
The national rankings. USI jumped back into the Collegiate Baseball/ABCA Top 30 poll at number 26. The Eagles also received votes for the NCBWA Top 25 poll.
Eagles starting to roll. The Eagles are starting to roll in the final stretch of the 2016 schedule and are 8-2 in the last 10 games, 6-2 in the GLVC during that span. USI, as a team, is hitting .313 and averaging seven runs a game, while the opponents are batting a low .242 and averaging 3.4 tallies per ballgame.
Hitting leaders on final homestand. Senior shortstop Kyle Niemeier and senior catcher Ryan Bertramled USI during the most recent homestand, batting .433 and .414, respectively. Sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs also blasted a team-best two home runs and drove in a team-high 14 RBIs. In the final five games of the homestand, Neimeier and Bertram hit a blistering .571 and .529 each, while Griggs drove in 12 RBIs.
At the plate in 2016. Senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf leads USI for the season with a .360 batting average with senior shortstop Kyle Niemeier following with a .357 average. Sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs has driven in a team-best 41 RBIs, while Kempf and senior catcher Ryan Bertramfollowed with 37 and 36 RBIs, respectively.
Kempf takes one record, chasing more. Senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf claimed the USI all-time record for hits in Friday’s doubleheader against Saint Joseph’s College and has 277 career hits since 2013. Kempf also is chasing three more records, ranking third with 57 doubles (record 63); tied for third with 162 runs scored (record 183); and ninth 203 games played (record 213).
Carr hoping to steal a record. USI senior centerfielder Hamilton Carr is closing on the Eagles’ stolen base record with 77 career thefts (record 86), ranking third on the Eagles’ all-time list. Carr also ranks 14th all-time in hits (195), 11th in runs scored, and 13th in games played (175).
Hitting streak ends for Gunn. USI senior third baseman Trent Gunn saw his 2016-best 15-game hitting streak come to an end versus Saint Joseph’s College. The senior batted .396 with 14 runs scored and 14 RBIs during the 15-game hitting streak.
High-five hurlers. Three of USI’s four starting pitchers have won five games each this year. Junior right-handers Colin Nowak and Lucas Barnett won their fifth games of the year against Saint Joseph’s, tying junior right-hander Devin Williams for the team lead. Williams has the best ERA among the starters with a 1.95 ERA in 64.2 innings of work, while Barnett has struck out a team-best 66 batters.
Leading the GLVC in pitching. USI leads the GLVC and ranks 13th nationally in pitching with a 3.34 ERA.
Archuleta at USI. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta reached 500 all-time victories and became the Eagles’ all-time winningest coach in program history. Archuleta has a USI record of 370-187 (.664) in eight-plus seasons and is 518-311 (.625) in 13-plus seasons as the head coach. He has been named the ABCA Division II Coach of the Year twice (2010 and 2014) after leading the Screaming Eagles to a pair of national championships. Archuleta also has earned a pair of GLVC Coach of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) at USI.
USI vs. UIndy. USI trails the all-time series with UIndy, 51-47, taking three of four from the Greyhounds at the USI Baseball Field during 2015. The Eagles are 4-4 in the last eight visits to play the Greyhounds.
In 2015. In the USI-UIndy series in 2015, USI senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf hit .636 (7-11) with three runs scored and three RBIs in the four games, while USI as a team batted .300 (33-110) and averaged 4.8 runs per contest. Six Eagle hurlers also held the Greyhounds to three runs a game and a .216 batting average.
UIndy in 2016. The Greyhounds of UIndy are 31-15 overall and 16-8 in the GLVC during the 2016 campaign. UIndy fell to second in the GLVC after splitting with the University of Illinois Springfield last weekend. The Greyhounds are 7-7 in their last 14 games.
