Series Preview: Evansville Visits Northwestern Baseball for Three-Game Set
Two teams riding win streaks will face off at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park in Evanston this weekend as Northwestern hosts the University of Evansville for a three-game series starting Saturday. The Wildcats and Purple Aces will play each other for the first time since 2014, a 6-4 Evansville victory in Winter Haven, Fla.
The Opponent
After starting the season 1-7, Evansville has won six of its last nine contests, entering the series with Northwestern on a four-game win streak. The Purple Aces dropped its first six road games of the year before sweeping #18 Tulane in New Orleans last weekend and tacking on a mid-week road win at Austin Peay on Wednesday.
Senior right-handed pitcher Shane Gray leads Evansville in innings pitched (23.2) and strikeouts (28), walking only 2 batters so far this season. Gray tossed seven innings and struck out nine batters in a win over Tulane last Saturday, his third consecutive winning decision. Sophomore Nick Smith earned the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week Award with his nine-strikeout performance over 6.1 innings against Tulane, limiting the Green Wave to just one run.
The Purple Aces’ bullpen has been stellar all season, as the quartet of Jakob Meyer, Drew Dominik, Nate Hardman and Eric Roberts have combined for a 1.97 earned run average in 32 innings with 40 strikeouts.
10 different Evansville batters have hit home runs this year, including fifth-year senior Tanner Craig with seven homers and seven doubles. Mark Shallenberger and Simon Scherry are tied for the team lead in hits with 26, and Craig’s 21 RBI and 16 runs scored pace the Purple Aces. In the win over Austin Peay on Wednesday, Evansville scored 20 runs, the program’s most in a single game since 2016.
Evansville finished seventh in the eight-team Missouri Valley Conference in 2021 with an 11-16 conference record. In the 2022 MVC Preseason Poll, the Purple Aces were predicted to finish seventh by the conference’s coaches.
The Schedule
Northwestern and Evansville will play a single game Saturday afternoon and a doubleheader on Sunday, as rain is expected in Evanston on Saturday morning.
Game 1: Saturday March 19, 2 p.m. CT
Game 2: Sunday March 20, 11 a.m. CT
Game 3: Sunday March 20, 2 p.m. CT
Saturday’s Projected Starting Pitchers
Northwestern: LHP Sean Sullivan: 2-0, 1.71 ERA, 21 IP, 33 K, 6 BB
Evansville: RHP Shane Gray: 3-1, 6.46 ERA, 23.2 IP, 28 K, 2 BB
How to Watch
Sullivan Claims Two Big Ten Awards
Only four starts into his college career, Sean Sullivan earned his second and third Big Ten Weekly Honors of the season this week. The left-hander was named Co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Week with Maryland’s Ryan Ramsey and Co-Freshman of the Week with Iowa’s Keaton Anthony.
Sullivan struck out 11 in a seven-inning, complete-game shutout on Sunday in Northwestern’s 9-0 win over St. Thomas. Sullivan claimed his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week award in the last three weeks, and he is the first Northwestern pitcher to win the conference’s Pitcher of the Week honor since Quinn Lavelle in 2018.