EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The 29th-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team opens the 2010 regular season Friday when it start a three-game series at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. Start times for the weekend series is 1 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday, and 10 a.m. Sunday (CST).
USI, which was 39-19 overall and 20-7 in the GLVC a year ago, won the GLVC West Division title for the second straight season before advancing to the semifinals of the conference and NCAA Division II Midwest Regional tournaments.
The Screaming Eagles regular season crown marked the first time in 15 years that they have captured back-to-back conference titles. USI also reached the 30-win plateau for the third straight season, marking the longest such streak since the 1992, 1993, and 1994 campaigns.
USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta begins his fourth season with the Eagles and has won 118 of 180 games (.656 winning percentage) in his first three seasons at the helm. He will have a squad that has 15 returning players and 17 newcomers in 2010.
Leading the way for the Eagles is a pair of preseason All-Americans – junior right-handed pitcher Trevor Leach (Danville, Indiana) and senior right-handed pitcher/infielder Tyler Choate (Carmi, Illinois).
Leach, who was named preseason by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, set the USI single-season records for wins and winning percentage by going 11-0 in 2009. The 2010 first team All-GLVC and All-Midwest Region pitcher, who won eight games out of the bullpen and three as a starter, also had a 2.87 ERA with 66 strike outs in 94 innings of work as a sophomore. The 2.87 ERA is tops among the returning USI hurlers.
Choate, who also will see action as a pitcher and infielder again this season, was named preseason All-American by the NCBWA as a utility player and a “Player to Watch” by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Daktronics second team All-Region and All-GLVC utility player in 2009 was USI's number one starter last spring, finishing the season with a 7-3 overall record with a 3.22 ERA and 76 strike outs in 16 appearances and 15 starts.
At the plate, Choate sparked USI in the top third of the lineup. He had a team-best 10 home runs and ranked second with a .357 batting average. The senior also had 52 runs scored, 15 doubles, four triples, and 37 RBIs.
The Pirates of AASU (3-0) have already started the 2010 campaign, taking three from Salem International University. AASU averaged 12.7 runs per game during the season-opening series.
USI trails AASU in the all-time series, 13-2, after losing two of three to the Pirates last February.
