Softball | 3/2/2016 1:47:00 PM
Live Stats G1 | G2 | G3
Audio (G1 and 2) | Video (G3) ABILENE – After spending their first three weekends on the road, Abilene Christian softball finally gets to play its first home games on the newly installed turf of Poly Wells Field this Saturday and Sunday for a three-game series against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
The Wildcats (3-11) and Lions (5-10) start their series Saturday with a 2 p.m. doubleheader and conclude it Sunday with a 12 p.m. contest. Al Pickett will broadcast Saturday's games via online radio and 'The Voice of the Wildcats'
Grant Boone will be in the home TV booth Sunday for a live video stream.
ACU is coming off a 1-4 weekend at the Texas Invitational, however, its one win was against a red-hot Tulsa team (W, 2-1) that defeated the No. 24 Longhorns in consecutive games by the same 3-0 score. Redshirt sophomore
Hannah Null started against the Hurricanes and scattered six hits with three strikeouts in a complete-game performance. She also came close to beating Texas, allowing only five hits in a 3-2 loss.
Null made three appearances in Austin, including one in relief, and finished the weekend with a 1.71 earned-run average, 1-1 record, six strikeouts and a .203 opponents' batting average. Her cumulative stats were good enough to earn her an honorable mention for Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week.
Offensively, ACU scored eight runs in five games against some of the nation's best pitching but
Brianna Barnhill and
Baylee Travers each went deep and three starters:
Casey-May Huff (.385),
Taylor Brown (.333) and
Cara Hoover (.333) all hit well above .300.
Brown has been the Wildcats best hitter all season and enters this series hitting .372 (16-for-43) with three extra-base hits and three RBI. She also has been successful on all four stolen base attempts and has drawn a team high five walks out of the leadoff position.
UAPB has lost 10 of its last 11 games after starting the year 4-0 against Langston University and Rust College. Two of those losses were to Central Arkansas of the Southland Conference by scores of 10-1 and 18-4.
The Lions' ERA is 8.02, but their starting lineup can also put up some runs and it will be tough for the Wildcats to pitch around Paige Garcia, who is hitting .413 with two home runs, five doubles and 19 RBI.
