Baseball | 5/21/2015 6:02:00 PM
TUCSON, Ariz. – The ACU Wildcats continue their final week of the 2015 season Thursday evening when they take on the Arizona Wildcats at Hi Corbett Field.
First pitch of the game is set for 6 p.m. MT (8 p.m. Abilene time). The teams will play again Friday at 6 p.m. MT / 8 p.m. CT, and then ACU will conclude the season Saturday at 2 p.m. MT / 4 p.m. CT against Hawaii at Hi Corbett Field.
ACU (15-37) dropped a 4-1 decision Tuesday night at No. 12 Arizona State, while Arizona is 28-23 on the season and will miss the NCAA post-season for the third straight season under 14th-year head coach Andy Lopez.
ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau is scheduled to send junior righthander
Nate Cole to the mound Thursday against Arizona, followed by sophomore righthander
Garrett deMeyere on Friday. Cole is 0-2 on the season with a 3.98 ERA. This will his fifth start of the season, and he's given up nine earned runs in 16 1/3 innings in his other four starts.
His best start of the season came on April 15 when he went five innings, gave up two runs and struck out nine in the Wildcats' 3-2 loss at No. 1 Tex- as A&M in College Station. deMeyere is 3-5 with a 5.50 ERA on the season. His best start of the season came on March 20 in Abilene when deMeyere went 7 1/3 innings against McNeese State in a Southland Conference game. deMeyere gave up seven hits and no runs (5-0 ACU win) and struck out four Cowboys in the ACU win.
ACU's 4-1 loss at No. 12 Arizona State on Tuesday was another close loss in a long line of them in 2015. The Wildcats have played 32 games this season that have been decided by three runs or less, 27 of them decided by one or two runs and 18 decided by one run. ACU is 9-23 in the 32 games decided by three runs or less, 7-20 in games decided by one or two runs and 5-13 in one-run games.
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 final three games in the top 10 in at-bats (812), ninth in runs scored (137), fifth in hits (252), seventh in doubles (47), tied for fourth in triples (11), and ninth in total bases (330). Eager 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 60 hits on the season with three games to play after collecting 59 hits during his freshman campaign in 2014.
