Tennessee baseball is two wins away from returning to the College World Series for the second consecutive season as they prepare to host Evansville in the Knoxville Super Regional.
The Vols are the top-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament while Evansville is the Cinderella story of this year’s tournament after shocking the college baseball world with a victory in the Greenville Regional.
Here’s a quick look at the Purple Aces ahead of this weekend’s best of three series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
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How The Purple Aces Got Here
Evansville enters this weekend’s Knoxville Super Regional with a 38-24 (17-10 MVC) record. The Purple Aces found finished tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference in the regular season before upsetting heavy favorite Indiana State in the MVC Tournament Championship game.
All the talk entering the NCAA Tournament was whether Chase Burns and Wake Forest could overcome East Carolina to come to Knoxville. The Demon Deacons were eliminated after just two games.
Evansville upset East Carolina in its regional opener before knocking off VCU to move to the Greenville Regional Final. The Pirates defeated Evansville 19-6 on Sunday night to force game seven of the Greenville Regional but a three-run home run in the seventh inning propelled the Purple Aces past East Carolina and into the super regionals.
Team Hitting Stats
Runs: 493 (22nd nationally)
Batting average: .301 (47th nationally)
Home runs: 92 (40th nationally)
Doubles: 154 (2nd nationally)
Walks: 320 (23rd nationally)
Bats To Know
Mark Shallenberger — .390/.528/.719, 17 HR, 40 EBH, 63 RBI, 45 BB, 21 K
Kip Fougerousse — .350/.431/.681, 21 HR, 42 EBH, 66 RBI, 30 BB, 70 K
Harrison Taubert — .301/.410/.520, 9 HR, 21 EBH, 49 RBI, 30 BB, 68 K
Brent Widder — .286/.395/.512, 12 HR, 32 EBH, 55 RBI, 30 BB, 48 K
Simon Scherry — .297/.387/.435, 6 HR, 21 EBH, 44 RBI, 35 BB, 32 K
Team Pitching Stats
Earned Run Average: 5.95 (145th nationally)
WHIP: 1.52 WHIP (85th nationally)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings: 8.0 (177th nationally)
Top Pitchers
LHP Kenton Deverman — 17 GP, 15 GS, 9-1, 3.85 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 106.1 IP, 81 K, 20 BB
RHP Shane Harris — 25 GP, 6 GS, 8-6, 3.63 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 72 IP, 68 K, 28 BB
LHP Donovan Schultz — 16 GP, 16 GS, 5.84 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 89.1 IP, 72 K, 32 BB
LHP Kevin Reed — 16 GP, 14 GS, 5-2, 7.38 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 57.1 IP, 40 K, 27 BB
RHP Jakob Meyer — 27 GP, 0 GS, 3-4, 6.13 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 39.2 IP, 46 K, 21 BB
