Baseball | 5/19/2015 1:00:00 AM
TEMPE, Ariz. – The ACU Wildcats begin the final week of their 2015 regular season Tuesday night with a game against nationally ranked Arizona State.
First pitch against the 12th-ranked Sun Devils is set for 6:30 p.m. MT (8:30 p.m. Abilene time) from Phoenix Municipal Stadium. ASU lead the all-time series against the Wildcats, 1-0, after the Sun Devils rallied for a 4-2 win over ACU last May in the final game at Packard Field, the former home field of the Sun Devils.
The Wildcats enter the game at 15-36 overall, but 7-8 in their last 15 games of the season. The Wildcats won a pair of one-run games last weekend against Incarnate Word, the kind of game that has practically defined their season.
ACU is just 5-13 in one-run games this season and 7-20 in games decided by one or two runs. Those narrow losses have been plentiful in the last month as the Wildcats are 3-8 in one-run games since April and 5-10 in games decided by one or two runs since April.
ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau is scheduled to send senior righthander
Thomas Altimont to the mound Tuesday night to take on the Sun Devils. Altimont is 3-7 with a 3.73 ERA on the season, but he was 3-4 with a 2.83 ERA in Southland Conference games. Altimont is also scheduled to start ACU's season finale against Hawaii on Saturday.
Senior
Tyler Eager – who has started 174 straight games, one of the longest streaks in college baseball – is putting together the finest overall season of his career. Eager was fifth in the Southland Conference in RBI (24) and tied for 18th in hits in conference play (36 in 30 games).
Eager is going to finish his career in the top 10 in at least six offensive categories. Eager enters the week in the top 10 in at-bats (808), ninth in runs scored (137), fifth in hits (250), seventh in doubles (46), tied for fourth in triples (11), and ninth in total bases (327). He also has 123 career RBI and needs just four more to tie Mike Elkerson for 10th on the all-time list with 127 career RBI.
Sophomore third baseman
Aaron Draper finished 10th in hits during the Southland Conference season with 39 in 30 games. Draper has 58 hits on the season with four games to play after collecting 59 hits during his freshman campaign in 2014.
After Tuesday night's game, the Wildcats will wrap up their second season of transition from NCAA Division II affiliation to NCAA Division I status in Tucson, Ariz. ACU will play the Arizona Wildcats in a two-game series (Thursday and Friday) before wrapping up the season Saturday against Hawaii. All three games will be played at Hi Corbett Field.
