Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Western Kentucky
Players Mentioned
Racers Host Evansville Wednesday - Tuesday vs. WKU Cancelled
4/2/2018 4:22:00 PM | Baseball
GAMEÂ 29
Murray State (14-14) vs. Evansville (6-15)
April 4, 2018
First Pitch:Â 4 p.m.
Stadium: Reagan Field
Dimensions: 330 (LF) | 400 (CF) | 330 (RF)
Series History:Â UE leads the all-time series 40-17
Last Meeting: MSU 5, UE 4 – April 26, 2017
Live Stats:Â UE
Twitter In-Game: @RacersBaseball
First Pitch
The Racers begin their non-OVC week Wednesday as Evansville comes to town for a 4 p.m., contest. The Purple Aces were swept at Creighton over the weekend. UE is 0-10 in true road games this season. Tuesday's game against Western Kentucky was canceled due to forecasted rain for Murray.
Inside the Matchup
Last season, the Racers recorded their first season-series sweep of Evansville since 1958, winning 8-1 in Paducah and 5-4 in Evansville in late April of 2017. MSU is 12-14 all-time at home against UE and is looking for its first win at Reagan Field since 2014. The Racers lost 2-1 in 2016, the last time the two teams met in Murray.
Davey Doubles
Davis Sims continues to lead the nation in doubles this season and currently has 16 two-baggers in 2018 after recording another one in the series finale at JSU. The program record for doubles in a season is 22, set by Tyler Lawrence in 2016. Sims also came just one game shy of recording a hit in every game in the month of March as he saw his career-best 19-game hitting streak end in game two Friday against the Gamecocks.
Scouting Evansville
Troy Beilsmith and Nate Reeder lead Evansville in batting, averaging .311 and .310, respectively on the season and are the only two Purple Aces hitting above .267. Beilsmith leads UE with 18 runs, 10 doubles and three home runs and is tied for the team-lead along with Kenton Crews with 13 RBIs and five stolen bases. UE is hitting .234 on the season as a squad.
Pitching wise, the Purple Aces are led by Nathan Croner's 1.50 ERA out of the bullpen in 12 innings of work. Jimmy Ward has made a team-best 13 appearances in 2018 while Austin Allinger leads UE with 28 strikeouts and is second on the squad with 25.1 innings pitched. Alex Weigand leads the team in that department with 25.2 innings logged. Six Purple Aces have recorded one win each on the year with Austin Ruesch recording the lone save. Wes Carroll is in his 10th season leading UE. The Purple Aces have had four games canceled this season due to weather.
