Feb. 28, 2006

The Redhawks baseball team travels to Eavnsville, Ind. tomorrow to face-off in a single game at 3:00 p.m. against the Purple Aces of Evansville University. The two teams met for the first time ever last season at Capaha Field. Evansville won the affair 13-6, blistering Redhawk pitchers for 20 hits, the most given up by Southeast in all of 2005.

Scouting Southeast

Southeast goes to Evansville coming off a three-game sweep of the Jackson State Tigers. In Sunday afternoon's game, the pitching staff combined for nine strikes while issuing just one base on balls. Starter Jamie McAlister (1-2) picked up his first win of the season. The senior right-hander went 7.0 innings, allowed 6 hits, 4 runs (only 2 of which were earned), and struck out 8.

Outfielder Asif Shah had a big game on Sunday hitting in the leadoff spot. Shah was 3-5 with a double, triple, 3 RBIs, and 2 runs scored. On the season, the junior transfer from Wabash Valley Community College is hitting .348 with 6 RBIs and 4 runs scored. He has now hit safely in 3 consecutive games, the longest current streak on the team.

Freshman righty Daniel Schuh is expected to make the start on Wednesday. Schuh has made two appearances out of the pen so far this season, and carries an ERA of 3.38 in 5.1 innings of work. He has allowed 4 hits, but has also walked four batters. Schuh is still looking to record his first strikeout of the season.

Scouting Evansville

The Purple Aces play host to Southeast with a 6-3 record on the season. On Sunday they shutout Eastern Illinois 2-0 in a pitching duel. The two teams combined for just 4 hits, and Evansville accounted for just one of those. Three errors by Eastern Illinois, though, led to a two-run eighth innings for the Aces and their sixth victory of the season.

The only hit for Evansville batters on Sunday was delivered by outfielder Kern Watts. With the hit, Watts extended his hitting streak to 8 games and has a base hit in every game for the Purple Aces except the first. Batting primarily in the leadoff role, he is hitting .353 with 3 doubles, a triple, 7 RBIs and 7 runs scored. As the table setter for the lineup, Watts leads the team with a .500 on-base percentage and is also 5-5 in stolen base attempts.

Wednesday afternoon's game will be a battle of right-handed freshman pitchers, as Evansville will throw Kerrik Cron. Cron, like Southeast's Schuh, will also be making his first start of the season. In his only appearance in a 7-3 loss to Gardner-Webb on February 18, Cron worked 2/3 of an inning, and allowed one hit and struck out one.

Radio: Wednesday afternoon's game will be broadcast live on 1220 AM KGIR. You can access the broadcast live on the internet by visiting www.kgir.com.