Baseball | 3/26/2015 5:32:00 PM
BEAUMONT – The ACU Wildcats return to the diamond this weekend for a three-game non-conference series against a Southland Conference foe in the Lamar Cardinals.
The series begins Friday at Lamar's Vincent-Beck Stadium with a 6 p.m. contest, followed by a 2 p.m. game Saturday and a 1 p.m. game Sunday. Because of the odd number of members in the Southland Conference, each team has a weekend out of league play, and both Lamar and ACU elected to use their off weekends to face each other.
Both teams enter the weekend after tough losses to nationally ranked opponents on Tuesday. ACU allowed No. 15 Dallas Baptist to jump out to a 6-0 lead and then pushed across five more unearned runs in the fifth to turn a 6-4 game into an 11-4 game as the Patriots won, 11-6. DBU scored 10 two-out runs in the game.
Lamar fell to Houston, 6-5, in 10 innings after holding a 5-0 lead in the middle of the eight frame. The Cougars scored three times in the eighth and twice in the ninth to tie and for extra innings.
ACU is led offensively by senior first baseman
Tyler Eager, who is hitting .302 with 13 RBI, while sophomore outfielder
Aaron Draper leads the team in RBI with 14 to go along with a .250 batting average. The only other player with 10 or more RBI for the Wildcats is sophomore
Russell Crippen, who has 10 RBI.
The Wildcats will send
Garrett deMeyere (2-2, 3.76 ERA) to the mound Friday night, followed by
Aaron Mason (0-3, 6.23 ERA) on Saturday and reigning Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week
Thomas Altimont (1-4, 4.36 ERA) on Sunday.
Lamar will use Jayson McKinley (0-1, 1.80 ERA) on Friday, followed by Chase Angelie (2-3, 3.32 ERA) on Saturday and Danny Fernandez (3-2, 3.05 ERA) on Sunday.
Four Cardinals are hitting.300 or over through 24 games this season, ake Nash (.364), Brandon Provost (.348), Reed Seeley (.319) and Kevin Santana (.300). Kyle Markum, who has been on a tear through the last six games leads LU with 16 RBI. Seeley leads with 19 runs scored.
