ABILENE - The Abilene Christian baseball team enters the final week of the regular season as one of three teams vying for the remaining two spots at the upcoming Lone Star Conference Championship. But in order to guarantee a postseason berth the Wildcats will have to produce a winning weekend at 19th-ranked Angelo State.
The series begins Friday at 6 p.m. and continues into Saturday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader before concluding Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Rams (32-14) also have quite a bit at stake this weekend as they're currently tied for first place with Texas A&M-Kingsville at 16-8. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are in a log jam near the bottom of the standings with Tarleton State and Cameron.
The Texans surpassed ACU (24-22, 11-13 LSC) in the standings last week after winning 3 of 4 at Crutcher Scott Field, which was the Wildcats' first conference series loss of 2012 following five splits. The series victory evened the Texans' conference mark at 12-12 and moved them into fifth place, 1.0 game ahead of ACU, and 2.0 in front of Cameron Aggies (10-14), who they'll face in Lawton, Okla., this weekend.
The Wildcats can make the playoffs with at least a 3-1 record in San Angelo, but anything less and they'll be in jeopardy of missing their second consecutive postseason tournament.
Angelo State is coming off a series victory over Cameron, in which they won 3 of 4 to improve to 20-4 at Foster Field. The Rams racked up 31 hits against the Aggies while their pitching staff combined to post a 2.25 ERA.
As for the Wildcats, they were three outs away from recording a doubleheader sweep and taking a 2-1 series lead over the Texans, but the ACU bullpen issued three consecutive walks in that decisive seventh inning and watched all the runners score as Tarleton State completed its comeback, 3-2. The next day's game was even more cruel as the bullpen surrendered seven unanswered runs over the final three innings in a 10-8 loss.
The ACU offense, however, continued to click behind the excellent play of junior
Chuck Duarte, who extended his season-best hitting streak to 10 games with a 8 for 16 week against UT-Permian Basin and the Texans.
Duarte began the week with a four RBI game against the Falcons, in which he delivered a bases-clearing double that allowed ACU to win by the 10-run rule, 11-1. He then went 6 for 13 vs. Tarleton State, scoring three runs, and driving in a game-winning run.
Duarte has raised his batting average 78 points since April 1, and currently leads ACU with a .378 batting average. Duarte has batted .565 this month with 16 runs, 20 RBI, three home runs, and six doubles. He has also drawn 10 walks, while striking out just once.
Elsewhere in the lineup, senior
Duncan Blades ranks 12th in the conference in hitting with a .356 batting average and is tied for third with 16 doubles. Freshman
Tyler Eager is among the league's top-five leaders in hits (60), runs (50), doubles (17), triples (5), and total bases (90).
Angelo State ranks third in the conference with a .309 team batting average, and has four individuals ranked among the LSC's top-20 hitters: Lee Neumann (.387 - 5 - 37), Toby Semler (.356 - 1 - 29), Ryan Greer (.340 - 3 - 40) and Brett Parsons (.336 - 3 - 33). Neumann also is ranked among the league leaders in hits (63), runs (47), triples (8), total bases (109), and stolen bases (15).
Greer is tops in the conference with 25 thefts, while Doug Snover is second with 18.
