SERIES NOTES (pdf)
EVANSVILLLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team closes out the regular season this weekend, hosting Illinois State for a three-game series at Braun Stadium. The Aces and Redbirds are currently tied for fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standing, both fighting for a top-four seed in next week’s State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Springfield, Mo.
CATCH THE ACTION (Tickets are $7 for Adults, $5 for Youth/Seniors)
***Friday’s game will be available only on the “hi-stream.” The Evansville Otters game will be on the “low-stream.”
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS (29-16, 8-8 MVC) – Illinois State enters the series riding a seven-game winning streak, coming off sweeps over Southern Illinois (3-2, 5-3, 8-1) and non-conference opponent Western Illinois (1-0, 4-1, 4-1). The Redbirds lead the Valley with a .299 batting average as a team with six regular starters hitting above the .300 mark. Zac Johnson leads the squad with a .344 average, 43 RBI, and 12 doubles this spring, followed by Ty Weisemeyer (.343, 7 3B), Matt Mirabal (.333) and Eric Aguilera (.329, 7 HR). Defensively, the Redbirds are fielding .977 with a league-low 37 errors, while the pitching staff owns a 4.44 ERA.
SCOUTING THE ACES (30-23, 9-9 MVC) – Evansville comes off a disappointing 5-4 loss at Indiana University after the Hoosiers scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth. However, the Aces look to build off their last Valley outing, claiming the series at Missouri State that featured three spectacular pitching duels. After falling 2-0 Friday night, the Aces rallied to win 3-1 and 1-0 in games two and three. On the season, UE’s pitching staff owns a 4.03 ERA, while the defense has a league-best .980 fielding percentage. Offensively, Eric Stamets leads the team with a .325 average, 18 doubles, and 30 stolen bases (30-37). Freshman Kevin Kaczmarski (.317) and junior Jason Hockemeyer (.306) also boast an above .300 average, while sophomore Jake Mahon leads the squad with 36 RBI.
PITCHING PROBABLES
Thursday, May 17th
UE:
Cole Isom (So., LHP) (2-7, 4.78 ERA, 84.2 IP, 33 BB, 63 K)
ILS: Chris Razo (Jr., RHP) (5-4, 4.70 ERA, 74.2 IP, 34 BB, 67 K)
Friday, May 18th
UE:
Kyle Lloyd (Jr., RHP) (4-3, 3.30 ERA, 73.2 IP, 20 BB, 47 K)
ILS: Dylan Craig (Fr., LHP) (8-2, 4.63 ERA, 68.0 IP, 25 BB, 51 K)
Saturday, May 19th
UE:
Kyle Freeland (Fr., LHP) (4.5, 4.40 ERA, 77.2 IP, 19 BB, 58 K)
ILS: TBD
THE ILLINOIS STATE SERIES
Evansville trails the all-time series with the Redbirds, 39-51-1. Last year, ISU won all four meetings, sweeping the last series of the season by scores of 9-4, 7-1, and 4-3 in Normal. The Redbirds eliminated the Aces from the MVC Tournament, edging UE, 4-3, in the 11th inning. However, in Evansville, the Aces hold a 13-12 advantage since 1995 and 9-8 lead in games played at Braun Stadium.
SENIOR DAY
Senior Day at Braun Stadium will be Saturday, May 19th. A ceremony honoring UE’s three seniors will take place about 15 minutes prior to the 1:00 p.m. CT first pitch time. Due to games at Dallas Baptist, seniors
Trentt Copeland,
Jordan Chavis, and
Zach Taylor missed the University of Evansville’s Commencement on May 5th. However, UE held a special graduation luncheon and ceremony for the senior baseball and softball seniors and families on May 1st at Ridgeway University Center. Copeland graduated with a BS in Business Administration, Jordan Chavis a BS in Accounting, and Zach Taylor a MS in Health Services and Administration.
LAST TIME OUT
After working to earn the number one fielding percentage in the nation, UE uncharacteristically committed three errors Tuesday afternoon at Indiana University, as the Hoosiers came from behind in the bottom of the ninth to steal a 5-4 win away from the Aces. Scoring a run in each the second, third, and fourth innings, the Aces built a 3-0 lead before the Hoosiers responded with a three-run inning in the fifth to tie it up. In the eighth,
Chris Pearson’s sacrifice fly plated
Eric Stamets for the lead, but an error to lead off the bottom of the ninth led to an RBI single by Micah Johnson and walk-off single by Trace Knoblauch to give IU the win. The Hoosiers out-hit UE, 12-5, in the contest, as junior
Jason Hockemeyer piloted the Aces with a 2-for-4 performance. Stamets extended his hitting streak to six games, while also recording hit 100th career stolen base and 30th this season. Pearson and sophomore
Jake Mahon each had one hit, rounding out the Aces’ offense. Instead of picking up his seventh save of the season, closer
Josh Biggs (4-2) took the loss, allowing two runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Sophomore
Ryan Billo left the mound with the game tied after the fifth, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk, while striking out two. Senior
Zach Taylor made his 90th career appearance, keeping the Hoosiers off the board in the sixth and seventh with a strikeout, while junior
Jake Naumann tossed a scoreless eighth.
CBI REGIONAL/MVC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Kyle Freeland, Fr., LHP, Denver, Colo.
Freshman Kyle Freeland out-dueled Baseball America’s top prospect of the MVC and foiled the league’s top conference hitting team, as he tossed a complete game, one-hit shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts in Evansville’s 1-0 rubber match victory over Missouri State. Freeland had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning, and limited MSU to just three base runners in the game, facing 29 batters. From the second to the eighth, the southpaw sat down 17 consecutive Bears, and had six perfect sides in his fourth win of the season and second complete game shutout in Valley play. The performance garnered Freeland his second MVC Pitcher of the Week accolade, as well as CollegeBaseballInsider.com Central Region Player of the Week honor.
ACE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Eric Stamets, Jr., SS, Dublin, Ohio
Junior Eric Stamets led Evansville with a .563 batting average on the week with nine hits, reaching the 200 career hit milestone. Leading UE to a 12-1 win over Austin Peay, Stamets went 4-for-6 at the plate with an RBI, double, three runs scored, while going 3-for-3 on the base paths. The Dublin, Ohio native logged a hit in every game of the Missouri State series, including a 3-for-4 performance in game two with a stolen base that marked the 99th of his career and 29th this spring, while scoring the go-ahead run in the victory. In the rubber match win, Stamets went 1-for-3 and executed the sacrifice bunt that led to the game-winning run in the ninth. At shortstop, Stamets has now started in 164 straight games and was perfect last week with 18 assists and six putouts. Extending his hit-streak as well as consecutive games without a strikeout to five, Stamets also raised his season average to a team-best .325 on the season.
SEED POSSIBILITIES
Heading into the final weekend of play, the Aces can finish the regular season with a conference record as high as 12-9 and as low as 9-12. Out of reach of first place, UE (9-9) can possibly finish second if they sweep the Redbirds (8-8), Indiana State (13-5) sweeps Missouri State (11-6), and Creighton (5-12) takes at least one game from Wichita State (10-8). With Southern Illinois (9-12) and Bradley (8-13) already finishing their conference schedule, UE can finish no worse than sixth.
SERIES SUCCESS
For the first time since 2001, Evansville earned series wins over the trio of Creighton (2-1), Wichita State (2-1) and Missouri State (2-1). In 2001 the Aces finished with a 36-21 overall record and 17-11 in the MVC, good for third in the final standings.
30-FOR-30
Capturing the 30th win of the season Sunday in UE’s 1-0 victory over Missouri State, head coach Wes Carroll has guaranteed himself his third consecutive winning season. Carroll has led his squad to above .500 records in each of the last two seasons, going 32-27 in 2010 and 28-25 in 2011, and posted the second-highest victory total by a first-year baseball coach at Evansville with 25 wins in 2009. Carroll, a 2001 Evansville graduate, is in his fourth season at the helm with a 115-105 record. He recorded his 100th career win versus Indiana State (3/24) in UE’s 3-2 walk-off victory.
STAMETS MILESTONES
Over the weekend, junior
Eric Stamets became the 25th Purple Ace in program history to reach the 200 career hit milestone, attaining the mark with his third hit of the afternoon in UE’s 3-1 win over Missouri State (5/12). In that same at-bat he also stole his 99th career base Stamets became just the second Ace in history to hit the 100 stolen bases milestone at IU Tuesday in his last at-bat of the game, doubling to leadoff and then swiped third before scoring on a sac fly. Stamets (100-125) sits only behind Aaron Pembroke (1995-98) who holds UE’s record with 106 career steals.
SUPERB PITCHING
Evansville and Missouri State dueled on the mound all weekend, as the teams combined for only seven runs total in three games. The Aces’ pitching staff posted a 1.04 ERA in the series, allowing just three runs and 12 hits, while striking out 18. Cole Isom and
Kyle Freeland both went the distance, while Kyle Lloyd tossed eight strong before Josh Biggs closed the game-two win, as UE used just four arms total on the weekend. All three contests were completed in less than two hours.
WE’RE NUMBER 1
Evansville entered the week with a nation’s best .981 fielding percentage, but after committing three at IU, the Aces dropped to second behind Stony Brook. Evansville has committed only 40 errors this season with 1,407 putouts and 526 assists.
ONE-HITTER
Freeland’s one-hitter vs. MSU (5/13) marked the first since 2003 when Michael Greenhouse tossed one against Southern Illinois on April 26th.
POLLOCK PULLS THROUGH
Freshman
Kyle Pollock was the hero offensively for Evansville in the 1-0 rubber match win over MSU (5/13), driving home sophomore
Tim Bodine from third with two outs in the top of the ninth. Bodine hustled out an infield grounder to lead off the frame, moved to second on
Eric Stamets’ sacrifice bunt, and advanced to third on
Jake Mahon’s groundout to second.
EXTRA INNING SUCCESS
The Aces are 3-1 this season when going into extra innings, winning their last two in 11 frames against Belmont (1-0, 5/2) and Dayton (7-6, 4/20). UE is 3-0 in extra-inning games at home and 0-1 on the road, falling to Creighton (3/31), 3-2, in 10.
SHUTOUTS
Sunday’s, 1-0, shutout against Missouri State marked the Aces’ fourth shutout this season. The Aces have also been shut out four times this spring.
HOME RUN WEEKEND
Evansville belted three long balls at Dallas Baptist led by freshman
Kyle Pollock’s two, after entering that weekend totaling just five as a team on the season. In game one, Pollock and freshman
Kevin Kaczmarski led off the eighth inning with back-to-back solo shots, representing the first time the Aces have hit consecutive home runs since April 5th, 2011 when Greg Wallace and Cody Fick did so against Austin Peay. Pollock leads UE with four homers this season.
WALK-OFF WONDERS
Evansville has won six games this season in walk-off style, including their most recent, 1-0, 11-inning win over Belmont (5/2) in which
Eric Stamets drove home
Jordan Chavis from second. UE also topped Dayton (4/20), 7-6, in 11-innings after Chris Pearson’s double down the right field line scored
Michael Eckstein for the win. UE’s other walk-off wins this spring include UT Martin (3/13 – Copeland RBI single, scoring Stamets), Western Michigan twice (3/16 – Lasher bases loaded walk in 10th, 3/18 – Bodine RBI single, scoring Copeland), and Indiana State (3/24 – Stamets RBI single, scoring Pearson).
BROOKS WALLACE WATCH
Eric Stamets has been selected as one of 50 Division I shortstops named to the 2012 Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award watch list by the College Baseball Hall of Fame. He has started every game of his career, 164 consecutive games, including all 52 this season, batting .325 with 36 runs, 20 RBI, and a team-high 17 doubles. The junior also leads the conference and ranks 23rd in Division I with 29 steals (29-36). With incredible range in the field, Stamets owns a .966 fielding percentage with 83 putouts and league-high 173 assists. Stamets led the Aces to their first conference win of the season with a walk-off RBI single vs. Indiana State (3/24, 3-2 W), and also had the game-winning double in the bottom of the 11th vs. Belmont (5/2, 1-0 W).
PEARSON’S GOTTA GUN
Junior catcher
Chris Pearson has caught six of the last eight base runners stealing, as well as nine of the last 13. Pearson leads the MVC, throwing out 23-of-63 attempts this season.
SMALL BALL
It is no secret that small ball is Evansville’s style of play. The Aces lead the MVC with 66 sacrifice bunts this season, co-lead the Valley with 32 sac flies, and rank first in the conference with 87 stolen bases. Eric Stamets leads the league with 13 sac bunts and also co-ranks first with Jake Mahon for sac flies, recording seven apiece. Stamets also leads the Valley with 30 stolen bases.
LET’S GET SOME RUNS
When scoring more than two runs in a game, the Aces own a 27-9 record. With two or less, they are 3-14.
LATE LEADERS
Evansville owns a 22-1 record when leading after the eighth. That only loss came Tuesday at IU (5/15) after the Hoosier scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 defeat.
200 HITS
Senior
Trentt Copeland became the 24th member of UE’s 206-hit club versus Dayton (4/22) on his first of two hits that day -- an RBI down the left field line in the fourth inning. Eric Stamets followed suit at Missouri State (5/13), hitting the 200-hit mark with on his third single of the game in the eighth, becoming the 25th Purple Ace to do so.
MIDWEEK MASTERS
Evansville owns an 11-2 record this season on games played on Tuesday or Wednesday. UE is 3-1 on Tuesdays and 8-1 on Wednesdays.
DOUBLE-T TRENTT
Trentt Copeland continues to move up the career doubles list, now with 56. Copeland sits alone in sixth-place all-time at UE, surpassing
Cody Fick’s 55 (2009-11). He needs one more two-bagger to move up another spot. Playing from 1998 to 2001, UE Head Coach
Wes Carroll holds the record at Evansville with 74 career doubles.
GO THREE
Kevin Kaczmarski and Jason Hockemeyer co-rank third in the MVC with five triples this season. Kaczmarski recorded one in three consecutive games from 3/18-3/23, another in the series clincher vs. Wichita State (4/14), and one in Sunday’s game vs. Dayton (4/22). Hockemeyer recorded his most recent triple in his 2-for-4 performance in game three at Dallas Baptist (5/5). They both need to belt just one more to tie for fifth in UE’s individual season record book.
THIEVES
Evansville ranks first in the Missouri Valley Conference and 21st in the nation with 84 stolen bases in 110 attempts. Last week vs. APSU, UE went 5-for-5 on the base paths.
Eric Stamets leads the conference and also ranks 18th in Division I with 30 swiped bags in 37 tries.
SPEEDY STAMETS
In his freshman year in 2010,
Eric Stamets set the single-season steals record at Evansville with 43 (43-51). Stealing 27 (27-37) his sophomore year, Stamets surpassed his second-year total vs. APSU (5/9) when he stole three bases successfully against the Govs.
COMPLETE GAMES
Three active UE pitchers have recorded complete games in their careers, and they all happen to be left-handed. Sophomore
Cole Isom has hurled five, including three this season versus Missouri State (5/11), Indiana State (3/23) and Wichita State (4/15). Taking the 2-0 loss at MSU, Isom threw all eight innings, scattering four hits with four walks, while striking out four. He also took the tough-luck 2-0 loss versus the Sycamores, allowing two runs, nine hits, and struck out five, but earned the win versus WSU, throwing a three-hit gem with a career-high 11 punch-outs. Freshman
Kyle Freeland recorded a one-hit shutout in UE’s 1-0 victory at Missouri State, striking out a career-high 11. Freeland also threw a three-hit complete game shutout at Creighton (4/1) with six strikeouts.
Josh Biggs is UE’s only other hurler who has tossed all nine, being done vs. Saint Louis on April 12th, 2011. He allowed four runs, five hits, and stuck out six.
TAYLOR MOVES UP
Senior
Zach Taylor ranks second all-time at UE with 90 career appearances on the mound. Taylor is only behind Willie Glen’s (1998-01) 97 career appearances.
’06 FLASHBACKS
Evansville’s series win versus Wichita State marks the Aces’ first over the Shockers since the 2006 season. Two weeks prior to that, the Aces won the series at Creighton, also marking the first time since ’06. That season, Evansville was Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Champions and won three NCAA Regional Tournament games.
K-MAN
Cole Isom’s 11 strikeouts versus Wichita State (4/13) marked a career-high, a team season-high, and the most since Cody Fick struck out 11 on May 24, 2011, also against the Shockers in the MVC Tournament in Omaha. Freeland also matched the 11-K mark in his one-hit gem at Missouri State (5/13).
BALL MAGNET
Co-ranking second in the MVC, sophomore
Jake Mahon has been plunked 18 times this year, exceeding his season total in 2011 (12) that marked a team-high last year. In the first 20 games this spring, the sophomore was hit 12 times.
PITCHERS GALORE
Evansville returns 12-of-13 pitchers from last season and also adds three newcomers to the staff, including
Kyle Freeland, a 35th round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
MVC PITCHER OF THE WEEK PERFORMANCES
KYLE FREELAND (4/2/12) - Freshman southpaw Kyle Freeland tossed a three-hit complete game shutout in Evansville’s, 1-0, rubber match victory in Omaha, leading UE to its first series victory over Creighton since 2006. Freeland logged six strikeouts, including striking out the side in the third and put an exclamation point on his gem with a punch out to end the game. Despite just a single run of support, Freeland kept the Jays off the board through all nine, throwing a perfect game into the fifth inning and retired the first 14 batters of the contest. The shutout marked Freeland’s first career Valley win, improved his season record to 2-3, while lowering his ERA to 3.82. The performance earned Freeland the MVC Pitcher of the Week (4/2) accolade.
COLE ISOM (4/16/12) - Sophomore Cole Isom’s three-hit, complete-game gem steered Evansville to a 4-1 victory over Wichita State April 13th at Braun Stadium and set up the Aces for their first series win over the Shockers since 2006. The southpaw struck out a career-high 11 batters in his first Valley victory of the season and did not allow a hit until the seventh inning. Isom also had a shutout into the ninth, giving up just a solo shot. In his ninth season appearance, Isom held the Shockers to a .094 batting average and lowered his season earned run average to 3.75. The performance garnered MVC Pitcher of the Week (4/16) honors for Isom.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
For the second consecutive year, shortstop
Eric Stamets was named to the Missouri Valley Conference preseason all-conference team, voted on by the league’s eight head coaches. Stamets, a junior from Dublin, Ohio, projects to be one of the best shortstops in the nation this year. Last season, Stamets hit .292 with a team-high 51 runs scored and 27 stolen bases. Defensively, he led the Aces with 181 assists and helped the squad to a program-best .977 fielding percentage with a record-low 48 errors as a team. In addition, Stamets turned heads in the summer, playing for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks and was named a Cape Cod League All-Star. Stamets was a consensus Freshman All-American and the MVC Freshman of the Year in 2010.
ON DECK
The Aces head back to Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo. for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Seeds will be determined after this weekend’s games.
