UE baseball looking to stay hot in weekend series against Purdue

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The University of Evansville baseball team is off to a solid start this year.

UE (10-7) had a rough opening to the 2023 season, losing its first five games, but then really caught fire.

Since losing its home opener to Eastern Michigan, Purple Aces’ head coach Wes Carroll and his group have won 10 of their last 12 games, including wins over EMU, Bowling Green and Middle Tennessee.

The turnaround has been a complete team effort, led by UE senior Chase Hug on offense. He’s hitting a torrid .433, while the pitching staff has only given up an average of two runs per game in the last nine games.

“Really we just started playing all three facets of the game better and complimenting one another,” Carroll said. “Our defense has really stepped up and started making some plays for our pitching. Our pitching has minimized the freebies, and we knew we had our offense. We’ve had some guys really hit with runners in scoring position well. On-base percentage is through the roof, so it’s exciting times for Aces’ offense now.”

“We were all confident in each other to get it done eventually, it was just a matter of time,” UE junior Simon Scherry said. “Everybody being able to do everything – Skip always talks about being a swiss army knife, so being able to get a bunt down, move the runner over, execute situations, so just trusting each other and knowing that the next guy’s going to get it done.”

“We all knew coming in before the season started, that one through nine, we’re going to be a tough out, and that anyone can go off at any point,” Hug said. “This staff as a whole has just been dealing and carving, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch.”

The Aces have a big series this weekend against Purdue.

First pitch is set for Friday at 3 p.m.

Copyright 2023 WFIE. All rights reserved.