Aces set to welcome league leaders to The Braun

4/27/2017 5:19:00 PM

(Due to uncertain weather conditions, Saturday's previously scheduled Purple Aces Club Ballpark Cookout has been rescheduled for May 20, when UE will play host to Dallas Baptist at Charles H. Braun Stadium.)

EVANSVILLE – After a five-game non-conference swing, the University of Evansville baseball team will be looking to get back on track in the Missouri Valley Conference in a big way as the team is set to play host to league-leading Missouri State at Charles H. Braun Stadium this weekend.

The Aces (13-27, 4-5 MVC) left off in a great spot in league play, picking up their first road MVC sweep in 11 years with a trio of wins at Illinois State earlier this month. However, things have not gone as well for the team in the two weeks since as UE will be hoping to put a halt to its current five-game losing skid, which continued earlier this week with a pair of games against Murray State.

Meanwhile, MSU (28-13, 9-0 MVC) is riding seven straight wins and looking like the favorites to take home The Valley's regular season crown. However, the Bears were in similar shape when these two teams met a season ago at Hammons Field in Springfield, with MSU boasting of a No. 17 national ranking. The Aces made the six-hour trek into the Ozarks and emerged with a series victory over the Bears, taking two out of three and largely silencing what was then the top-ranked offense in the league.

If UE is going to repeat the feat this weekend, it will largely depend on continued starting pitching success, beginning with Patrick Schnieders on Friday. Schnieders, who threw a near-no-hitter earlier this year, is the top strikeout pitcher on the UE staff with 62 punchouts in 53.2 innings, and he will enter the series opener with a 2-5 overall record and a 4.02 earned run average. On Saturday, Connor Strain (2-3, 2.74 ERA), who saw a 15-inning scoreless streak upended last weekend, will get the nod in game one.

The starter for the series finale has not been determined yet.

Offensively, the Aces will once again be looking to get back to showcasing the scoring potential the team showed at Illinois State, a series that featured a 12-9 and 8-1 victories. UE has been held to seven total runs over the past four games.

Andrew Tanous, who homered twice at Illinois State, leads the Aces with a .302 batting average, and his former Fort Scott Community College teammate Trey Hair has also enjoyed a productive year, putting up a .292 average with team-best totals in doubles (15), homers (6), runs (27) and runs batted in (27).

Travis Tokarek, who homered earlier this week against Murray State, is tied for the team lead in homers and ranks third on the squad with a .291 average and 25 RBI.

First pitch on Saturday is set for 6 p.m., and the series will conclude with a doubleheader Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m.

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