USI games at Bellarmine moved up

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - The University of Southern Indiana baseball team hits the road for a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference set with Bellarmine University that has been moved up to Friday and Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, due to the weather forecast. The first pitch is set for 11 a.m. (CDT) each day.

Following the four-game series in Louisville, the Screaming Eagles come back home for a four-game homestand at the friendly surroundings of the USI Baseball Field. USI hosts Kentucky Wesleyan College April 17 at 6 p.m. before a three-game showdown with fourth-ranked University of Tampa April 20-21. Start times for the USI-Tampa series are set for 6 p.m. April 20 and 21, prior to concluding the three games with a noon first pitch April 22.

Game coverage of the Screaming Eagles baseball games this season can be found on GoUSIEagles.com. Watch Twitter, Facebook, and GoUSIEagles.com for any schedule changes due to weather.

SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:

USI ends homestand on a high note. After a rough start to the GLVC schedule and a 0-4 beginning to the homestand, USI (17-13, 8-4 GLVC) rebounded with a nine-game winning streak, including a four-game sweeps of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis University and a single-game win over Oakland City. USI senior rightfielder Buddy Johnson (Shelbyville, Kentucky) has led the Eagles during the winning streak with a .543 batting average (19-of-35) and tied for the team-lead with 15 RBIs. Junior catcher Logan Brown (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) follows with a .500 average (12-of-24), while senior utility player Nick Gobert(Jasper, Indiana) tied with Johnson with 15 RBIs.

USI the last five games. The Eagles have soared in the last five games, sweeping Lewis (12-11; 6-5; 4-2; 5-3) and defeating Oakland City (6-3). Senior rightfielder Buddy Johnson led the Eagle hitters with a .471 average (eight-of-17), while senior utility player Nick Gobert drove in a team-high eight runs. Sophomore right-hander Tyler Hagedorn (Evansville, Indiana) picked up a pair of wins and a save in the last five games out of the bullpen.

Hitting Streak. Senior rightfielder Buddy Johnson has hit safely in each of his last 11 games, a career-best. Senior utility player Nick Gobert has the team's best hitting streak this season, reaching 13 games. Kyle Kempf owns USI's longest hitting streak, 26 games (last 12 games of 2015 and first 14 games of 2016).

On the mound with Partain and Bowles. USI junior left-hander Chase Partain (Evansville, Indiana) matched a career-high with seven strikeouts versus Lewis, equaling his performance against Lander University in the 2016 NCAA II National Championship series. Sophomore right-hander Jacob Bowles (Mt. Washington, Kentucky) posted his first career win, picking up the victory over Oakland City in 5.2 innings of relief work.

USI at the plate this season. Senior first baseman/leftfielder Drake McNamara leads USI hitters in 2018 with a .393 batting average with a team-high 32 RBIs, 14 doubles, and four home runs. Senior outfielder Buddy Johnson is second with a .376 batting average and 30 RBIs, while senior utility player Nick Gobert, who has seen action at first base, third base, right field, and on the mound, follows with a .324 batting average and ranks third on the squad with 28 RBIs.

USI on the mound this season. Senior right-hander Devin Williams (Evansville, Indiana), senior right-hander Kyle Griffin (Morganfield, Kentucky), senior utility player Nick Gobert, and sophomore right-hander Tyler Hagedorn lead the Eagles with three wins each. Griffin also has a team-best 55 strikeouts.

Out of the bullpen. Junior right-hander Dalton Lewis (Parker, Colorado) has USI's the best ERA in 11 appearances in relief (1.64). Lewis, sophomore right-hander Jacob Bowles, and sophomore right-hander Tyler Hagedorn are tied with one save each.

Moving up the charts. Senior first baseman/leftfielder Drake McNamara and senior third baseman/shortstop Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana) are moving up the USI all-time record book.

McNamara

Tied for fourth in home runs (20)
Seventh in total bases (313)
Tied for ninth in RBIs (135)
Tied for 11^th in doubles (42)
14th in hits (205)

Griggs

12th in RBIs (117)
14th in games started (169)
15th in total bases (265)
16th in hits (199)

USI vs. Bellarmine. USI leads the all-time series with Bellarmine, 79-71, after Bellarmine took a non-conference game in Louisville, 6-1, on March 9. The Eagles and the Knights split the four-game GLVC-series last spring at Knights Field. Senior rightfielder Buddy Johnson had USI's top average against Bellarmine last year, hitting .417 (five-of-12), while senior infielder Nathan Kuester (Rockport, Indiana) followed with a .364 mark (four-of-11). Right-handers Justin Watts and Lucas Barnett posted the victories for the Eagles during the series.

USI vs. Kentucky Wesleyan. USI leads the all-time series with KWC Panthers, 97-64, sweeping a home-and-home series last spring, 2-0 at USI and 7-0 in Owensboro, Kentucky. Outfielder Jaylen Quarles led the way for the Eagles with an .833 average (five-of-six), while junior second baseman Jacob Fleming (Evansville, Indiana) batted .429 (three-of-seven).

USI vs. Tampa. USI trails the all-time series with Tampa, 6-3, after the Spartans took two of three from the Eagles to start the 2017 campaign. The Eagles are 2-5 against the Spartans during the regular season meetings and 1-1 during the two match-ups in the NCAA II National Championship Series. USI infielder Joe Redburn led the Eagle hitters in last year's three-game series at Tampa with a .500 average (four-of-eight) and tied for a team-high with four RBIs and junior right-hander Austin Krizan (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) picked up USI's only win in relief.

Archuleta at USI. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta is USI's all-time winningest coach with a record of 427-226 (.654) in 10-plus seasons and is 575-350 (.622) in 15-plus seasons all-time as a head coach. He has been named the ABCA Division II Coach of the Year twice (2010 and 2014) after leading the Screaming Eagles to a pair of national championships and the ABCA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year after leading USI to the regional crown in 2016. Archuleta also has earned a pair of GLVC Coach of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) at USI.