USI celebrates Senior Day Saturday

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The University of Southern Indiana baseball team will be fighting for a slot in the upcoming Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament when it hosts conference-leading Maryville University this weekend for a three-game series. First pitch for Friday's doubleheader is slated for 2 p.m., while Saturday's single game scheduled for noon.
 
The Screaming Eagles also are celebrating Senior Day on Saturday. The eight seniors – second baseman Jacob Fleming; first baseman/designated hitter Jayden Beshears; right-handed pitcher Austin Gossmann; outfielder LaWan Rollins; first baseman Nathan Kuester; left-handed pitcher Chase Partain; right-handed pitcher Austin Krizan; right-handed Dalton Lewis – will be honored in a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, prior to the noon first pitch.
 
Coverage of the Eagles baseball games this season can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
 
SCREAMING EAGLES BASEBALL NOTES:
 
Second NCAA II Regional Ranking. USI remained 10^th in the second NCAA Division II Midwest Region poll that was released Wednesday. The Eagles were a part of a GLVC contingent that featured six league teams in the poll for the second-straight week. The top eight teams -- three automatic conference qualifiers and five at-large – will be selected for to the NCAA II Midwest Regional, scheduled for May 16-19, that will be split into two four-team sub-regionals this season. The winners of the four-team regionals advance to a super-regional that will be hosted by the highest remaining seed May 24-26.
 
GLVC Tournament berth on the line. A berth in the GLVC Tournament will be on the line for the Eagles when they host Maryville this weekend. USI enters this weekend versus Maryville tied for fifth in the GLVC with Drury University, which has the tiebreaker with the Eagles, and a game ahead three teams -- University of Indianapolis, Bellarmine University, and Lewis University –that are tied for seventh in the standings. USI holds the tiebreaker with Bellarmine and Lewis, while UIndy has the tiebreaker over the Eagles.
 
Eagles getting back on track. After a four-game losing streak, USI has bounced back and has won four of its last five games. Freshman third baseman/catcher Lucas McNew has led the Eagles at the plate with a .421 average, while sophomore leftfielder Aaron Euler has provided he power with three home runs. Euler also has a team-best seven RBIs.
 
Hitting Leaders. Freshman third baseman/catcher Lucas McNew leads USI with a .340 batting average and a team-high 40 RBIs. Sophomore leftfielder Aaron Euler follows with a .338 mark and a team-best nine home runs.
 
Euler takes over the lead. With three home runs in the last five games, sophomore leftfielder Aaron Euler took over the USI home run lead with nine round trippers this season, while freshman catcher/third baseman Lucas McNew follows with eight blasts.
 
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 six multi-home run games this season. Euler has three multi-home run games, while McNew has a pair and Lopez has one.
 
Pitching Leaders. Senior right-hander Austin Krizan, and senior right-hander Austin Gossmann are tied for the team-lead in wins with five each. Junior right-hander Tyler Hagedorn has a team-best 4.29 ERA in 19 games and 35.2 innings of work, while Krizan has struck out a team-high 63 batters.
 
Archuleta at USI. USI Head Coach Tracy Archuleta is USI's all-time winningest coach with a record of 472-256 in 12-plus seasons and is 620-380 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. Maryville.  USI holds a 5-1 series advantage over Maryville and will be facing the Saints for the first time since 2012. The Eagles and the Saints are tied 1-1 in games at the USI Baseball Field, splitting the two games in 2012.
 
Maryville in 2019. Maryville is sitting on top of the GLVC standings with a 22-8 conference record, while posting a 27-17 overall mark. The Saints have won their last nine games in a row, including eight-straight GLVC victories.