EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The University of Southern Indiana baseball team hits the road for a key Great Lakes Valley Conference three-game series when it visits the University of Illinois Springfield in Springfield, Illinois. The three-game slate is scheduled for a noon doubleheader Saturday and single-game Saturday.
 
Following the USI's three-game set at Illinois Springfield, the Screaming Eagles return home for a single-game Tuesday with Oakland City University at 6 p.m. The Eagles also have one final non-conference road game on the schedule and will cross the Ohio River to visit Kentucky Wesleyan College Wednesday at 3 p.m. for a second showdown between the two rivals.
 
Coverage of the Screaming Eagles baseball games this season can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
 
SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:
 
Important GLVC series at UIS. The Eagles and the Prairie Stars are among the five-way tie for fourth in the GLVC standings with 15-9 conference records. Of the five, USI has already faced Missouri University of Science & Technology; the University of Indianapolis, and Drury University, dropping two of three in each of the series. The Eagles can clinch a spot in the GLVC Tournament with a combination eight USI wins and/or Bellarmine University/Lewis University losses.
 
Eagles started week on down note. USI spotted Kentucky Wesleyan College an eight-run lead and fell short in the mid-week game, 12-7. Freshman catcher Lucas McNew and sophomore centerfielder Bryce Krizan led the Eagles at the plate with two hits and two RBIs each.
 
Hitting Leaders. Junior rightfielder/designated hitter Manny Lopez leads the Eagle hitters with .347, while sophomore leftfielder Aaron Euler is second with a .341 mark. Senior first baseman Nathan Kuester had a team-best 36 RBIs, while freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew is second with 35.
 
McNew going deep. Freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew leads the Eagles with seven home runs this season, followed by sophomore outfielder Aaron Euler and junior rightfielder/designated hitter Manny Lopez with six round trippers each.
 
Multi-Home Run Games for USI. Three USI hitters – junior rightfielder Manny Lopez, sophomore leftfielder Aaron Euler, freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew – have combined for five multi-home run games this season. Euler and McNew have a pair of two-home run games each, while Lopez has one.
 
Pitching Leaders. Senior right-hander Austin Gossmann leads USI with a 5-1 record and a season-best 4.20 ERA. Gossmann is followed in the win column by senior right-hander Austin Krizan, who is 4-1 and has struck out a team-best 52 batters.
 
Archuleta at USI. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta is USI's all-time winningest coach with a record of 468-252 in 12-plus seasons and is 616-376 in 17-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 2007, 2016 and 2018. Archuleta also has earned a pair of GLVC Coach of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) at USI.
 
USI vs. Illinois Springfield.  USI leads the all-time series with the Prairie Stars, 22-8, after going 2-4 in six meetings last spring. The Eagles lost all four of the regular season games before bouncing back to eliminate top-seeded Illinois Springfield during the GLVC Tournament and deliver the Stars' first loss in the NCAA II Midwest Regional Tournament.
 
Illinois Springfield in 2019. The Prairie Stars of Illinois Springfield are 25-11-1 overall in 2019, 6-4 in the last 10 games.
 
USI vs. Oakland City.  USI leads the all-time series with Oakland City, 87-11, after winning the only meeting last spring, 6-3. The Eagles also have won nine of the last 11 matchups since 2008.
 
Oakland City in 2019. The Mighty Oaks, who host Lincoln College this weekend, are 19-12 overall in 2019, going .500 (5-5) in the last 10 games, and 1-2 against teams from the GLVC this spring.
 
USI vs. Kentucky Wesleyan. USI holds a 98-75 lead in the all-time series with KWC after the 12-7 loss on Tuesday. USI holds a 4-2 advantage over KWC at Panther Park since 2013.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan in 2019. The Panthers, who travel to Alderson-Broaddus University this weekend for a four-game series, are 19-17 overall and enters this Friday and Saturday's action on a five-game winning streak.