Baseball | 4/9/2015 5:51:00 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI – The ACU Wildcats are back on the road for the third straight weekend, this time for a three-game Southland Conference series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi that begins Friday and concludes Sunday at Chapman Field.
ACU enters the series at 8-21 overall and 6-6 in conference play and is coming off a 4-3 home loss Monday night to the No. 2-ranked TCU Horned Frogs. The Wildcats' play has been much improved over the last month, and they've won each of their last two conference series, winning two of three from both McNeese State and Houston Baptist. Corpus Christi, meanwhile, is 14-15 overall and 4-8 in conference play after dropping two of three games last weekend to Lamar in Beaumont. The Islanders then split a pair of games at Texas-Pan American on Tuesday, losing 11-1 before winning the nightcap, 14-7.
Wildcat head coach
Britt Bonneau – who is three wins away from 700 for his career – will send right-hander
Garrett deMeyere to the mound on Friday, followed by left-hander
Aaron Mason on Saturday and senior right-hander
Thomas Altimont on Sunday. deMeyere is 2-3 with a 4.17 E RA, while Mason is 0-5 with a 7.06 ERA and Altimont is 1-6 with a 4.87 ERA.
Altimont was the hard-luck loser Monday night against TCU, even though he pitched brilliantly over seven innings against one of the best teams in the country. Altimont scattered eight hits over seven innings, allowed four runs (three earned) and struck out six Horned Frogs, his third quality start in his last five outings.
His improvement on the mound has mirrored that of the team overall as the Wildcats are 7-9 in their last 16 games after a 1-12 start to the season. Three of the losses in that 16-game stretch came against Dallas Baptist (twice) and TCU (once), both of which are top-15 teams in the country.
ACU is led offensively by senior first baseman
Tyler Eager, who is hitting .310 with one home run and a team-high 19 RBI. Sophomore
Russell Crippen – who has moved over to second base in the last two weeks – is hitting .269 with one home run and 13 RBI. Catcher
Alex Copeland and freshman outfielder
Marcelle Carter each have 10 RBI and are the only other Wildcats in double digits in terms of RBI.
Corpus will send right-hander Matt Danton to the mound Friday and left-hander Trevor Belicek to the mound Saturday with Sunday's starter undecided. Danton is 2-5 with a 1.58 ERA, while Belicek is 5-2 with a 3.40 ERA.
