FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville baseball team will play 28 games on its home field at Braun Stadium this upcoming season, as head coach Wes Carroll announced the Purple Aces’ 2013 schedule Tuesday afternoon.
UE’s 56-game slate features matchups with eight 2012 NCAA Tournament teams, including College World Series qualifier Arkansas. Evansville will also have contests against 12 teams that won 30 or more games last season, five of which reached or eclipsed the 40-win total.
The Aces open the season Friday, Feb. 15, in Little Rock, Ark., when they take on Arkansas-Little Rock for a three-game set, prior to a three-game series with the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Ark., Feb. 22-24. UE’s early-season road trip continues with single games against UT Martin in Martin, Tenn., and NCAA Tournament qualifier Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.
Evansville will play its first home game Friday, Mar. 1, when it opens a four-game set with visiting Milwaukee. The Aces will then be on the road for a three-game series at Kennesaw State, Mar. 8-10, before returning home for nine-straight contests.
The first two games of the nine-game stint will be against Eastern Illinois (March 12) and Oakland City (Mar. 13), before Evansville welcomes in-state rival and NCAA Tournament qualifier Purdue, who won 45 games last season, to Braun Stadium for a three-game set (Mar. 15-17). The Aces will close the homestand with a single game against Murray State (Mar. 19), prior to opening Missouri Valley Conference play against defending MVC Tournament Champion Creighton for a three-game series (Mar. 22-24).
UE will step out of conference play for a single game at Western Kentucky (Mar. 26), before returning to league action at Bradley for a three-game set in Peoria, Ill. (Mar. 29-31). UT Martin will visit Braun Stadium for a single game (Apr. 2), before the Aces travel to NCAA Tournament qualifier Belmont for a non-conference matchup in Nashville, Tenn.
Evansville will continue the month of April by hosting MVC foe Southern Illinois for a three-game series (Apr. 5-7), prior to an in-state rivalry game with Indiana at Braun Stadium (Apr. 9), a single-game road tilt at Murray State (Apr. 10), a three-game home set with Xavier (Apr. 12-14) and a single home game with NCAA tournament qualifier Austin Peay (Apr. 16).
The MVC schedule continues for UE with a trip to Wichita, Kan., for a three-game series with Wichita State (Apr. 19-21), before it returns home for a conference series against NCAA Tournament qualifier Missouri State (Apr. 26-28). Sandwiched between the two conference series with the Shockers and Bears, the Aces will be on the road for a single game with Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn. (Apr. 24).
The Aces will open March with a game against crosstown rival Southern Indiana at Braun Stadium (May 1), marking the first meeting between UE and USI since 2010. Following the game with the Screaming Eagles, Evansville will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for a series with defending MVC regular-season champion, NCAA Tournament qualifier and 41-game winner Indiana State (May 3-5) and host SIU Edwardsville for a single game (May 8), before wrapping up Valley play with a set at Illinois State (May 10-12).
UE’s final two regular-season games will feature single-game contests with Western Kentucky at home (May 14) and a road tilt with SIU Edwardsville (May 15).
The 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship will be hosted by Illinois State (May 21-25) at Duffy Bass Field in Normal, Ill.
