Wildcats back in action Tuesday at No. 7 TCU

Baseball | 3/22/2016 12:19:00 PM

Abilene Christian (9-10, 2-4 Southland) vs. #7 TCU (16-3, 3-0 Big 12)
Lupton Stadium (4,500)
Fort Worth, Texas
 
Tuesday, March 22 (6:30 p.m.): Listen / Live Stats
 
Starting Pitchers
Tuesday: RHP Nate Cole (ACU) vs. RHP Dalton Brown (TCU)
 
Abilene Christian
      The Wildcats continue one of their toughest stretches since beginning their transition to NCAA Division I affiliation Tuesday night when they take on seventh-ranked TCU.
      TCU is the third nationally ranked team the Wildcats will have faced this season and they are 0-4 in previous games against ranked teams: 0-1 vs. Oklahoma and 0-3 vs. Oklahoma State. After a 6-2 start, the Wildcats are just 3-8 in their last 11 games, including 1-6 in their last seven contests.
      ACU lost three at Oklahoma State before beating NCAA Division II foe Texas-Permian Basin last Tuesday. The Wildcats then lost three home games last weekend to Southland Conference preseason favorite Southeastern Louisiana, two of them by narrow margins.
      The Lions won the first game, 4-3, after falling behind 3-0 in the first inning on a three-run home run by Heath Beasley. And Sunday, the Lions rallied for six runs in the top of the ninth to take a 9-7 win over the Wildcats, who dropped below .500 for the first time this season.
      Now ACU is at TCU before heading to southwest Louisiana this weekend to take on McNeese State (10-9, 3-3 in the Southland going into this weekend's series). ACU will then be back home next Tuesday to take on Dallas Baptist, which beat ACU twice last season.
      Senior righthanded pitcher Nate Cole is scheduled to get the start on the mound for the Wildcats, and he'll be opposed by freshman righthander Dalton Brown. Cole is 1-2 on the season with a 5.06 ERA and has allowed 20 hits and nine runs (all earned) in 16 innings of work.
      Until Sunday's ninth-inning meltdown, the Wildcats' bullpen had been terrific all season. Before Sunday, the Wildcats' top four relievers – Zach Kornely, Joseph Goetze, Brandon Lambright and Nick Palacios – had a combined ERA of 3.06 (12 earned runs in 35 1/3 innings). However, after giving up six runs in three innings, that ERA has now climbed to 4.23 among those four.
      ACU is led offensively by senior catcher Alex Copeland and junior third baseman Aaron Draper, both hitting better than .300 on the season. Copeland is hitting .333 with six RBI, while Draper is hitting .303 with eight RBI. Junior transfer outfielder Braxton Wilks is hitting .268 with a team-best 11 RBI.
 
#7 TCU
• For the second straight season, TCU opened Big 12 play with a series sweep.
• The Horned Frogs are 10-2 in the month of March and are ranked in the top 10 of all the major polls.
• TCU leads the Big 12 with a .325 batting average and ranks second with a 2.71 ERA.
• Seventeen times this season, TCU has scored four or more runs in an inning.
• TCU has scored double-digit runs nine times this season after doing so only 11 times in 2015.
• The Frogs hit three home runs over the weekend and are tied for the league lead with 16 home runs.
• Elliott Barzilli raised his average to .438. He tops the Big 12 with 32 hits on the season.
• Evan Skoug's team-leading 11 doubles are tops in the Big 12.
• Luken Baker tallied seven RBIs in the series against WVU and he now leads the Big 12 with 24.
• Baker's grand slam in Sunday's game was TCU's first since the 2013 season and the first at Lupton since 2012. 
 
ACU vs. Nationally Ranked Teams
   Since beginning its transition to NCAA Division I affiliation 2013-14, the Wildcats are 0-16 against nationally ranked teams, including five losses to TCU's Big 12 rival Texas Tech.
   The Wildcats were 0-4 against nationally ranked teams in 2014 and 0-9 against those teams in 2015. Of those nine losses, five were by three runs or loss with the Wildcats  falling four times by one run, including in games against No. 1 Texas A&M (3-2), No. 2 TCU (4-3), and Texas Tech twice (6-5 in 16 innings and 7-6). The Wildcats lost three games at nationally ranked Oklahoma State two weekends ago.
 
Aaron Mason: Man at Work
      Senior lefthander Aaron Mason continued his strong start to the 2016 season last Sunday with another quality start against Southeastern Louisiana. Mason, 3-1 with a 2.60 ERA on the season, went 6 2/3 strong innings before giving way to Kornely to get out of a bit of a jam in the seventh inning.
      Mason didn't receive a decision after the ACU bullpen gave up a 7-3 lead in the top of the ninth inning, but Mason kept his team in the game against one of the best hitting teams in the Southland Conference, exiting the game with a four-run lead.
      Mason has a team-best 2.60 ERA, and, although opponents are hitting .260 against him, he's only allowed eight earned runs in 27 2/3 innings of work.
 
Turning the Corner?
      The Wildcats are in their third season of transition to NCAA Division I status, but trying to turn the corner from Division II powerhouse to Division I contender is tough. ACU, though, is slowly but surely turning the corner toward returning to the consistent winner it was at the NCAA Division II level.
      ACU, though, could be showing signs of turning the corner in 2016 if early signs are any indication.
      Last year ACU didn't win its ninth game of the season until a 3-2 win over Sam Houston State on April 19 in the season's 37^th game. That win gave ACU a 9-28 overall record and 7-11 Southland Conference mark.
      ACU won its ninth game this season on March 15, more than one full month ahead of last year's pace. At its current pace, ACU will finish with 27 victories on the season, which would be its most since the Wildcats finished 29-24 in 2013, their final season in the Lone Star Conference and at the NCAA Division II level.
 
Bringing Up Babies
      The Wildcats are playing as many as six freshmen in the field on a daily basis with four of them having earned everyday starting spots. Those Wildcats are the foundation of what head coach Britt Bonneau believes will be the core of a Southland Conference contender in 2018 when the Wildcats can compete for a conference championship.
      Shortstop Mark Pearson has started all 19 games, and he's hitting .262 with two doubles and three RBI, while first baseman David Ruot is hitting .216 with five RBI in 14 starts and has a 5.40 ERA in five relief appearances on the mound.
      Outfielder Hunter Markwardt has also started all 19 games and is hitting .231 with four RBI, while outfielder Willie Harris has played in 16 games (13 starts)  and is hitting .225. Other freshmen who have seen playing time are catcher Conner Nichols (.375 in four games) and designated hitter / second baseman Hunter Hays (.286 in four starts).
      Freshman reliever Goetze has a 3.60 ERA in 10 innings (nine appearances). Freshman centerfielder Derek Scott – who received the most attention when he committed to and later signed with ACU – has yet to play this season after suffering an off-season injury, although he could play against TCU.