Baseball | 4/21/2016 11:32:00 PM
Abilene Christian (13-21, 5-10) at Sam Houston State (22-16, 14-4)
Don Sanders Field
Huntsville, TX
How To Follow The WildcatsFriday, April 22: Live Audio / Video l
Live Stats
Saturday, April 23: Live Audio / Video l
Live Stats
Sunday, April 24: Live Audio / Video l
Live Stats
Starting Pitchers
Friday: RHP
Garrett deMeyere (ACU) vs. RHP Sam Odom (SHSU)
Saturday: LHP
Aaron Mason (ACU) vs. RHP Heath Donica (SHSU)
Sunday: RHP
Kyle Carroll (ACU) vs. RHP Riley Gossett (SHSU)
HUNTSVILLE – Coming off their first series victory since early March and their first back-to-back victories since late February, the ACU Wildcats go back on the road this weekend to take on one of the hottest teams in the Southland Conference in Sam Houston State in a three-game series at Don Sanders Field.
The series gets started Friday at 6:30 p.m. with the second game set for a 3 p.m. start Saturday. The series will wrap up Sunday at 1 p.m.
ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau will send senior RHP
Garrett deMeyere (2-6, 4.25 ERA) to the mound Friday, followed by senior lefthander
Aaron Mason (5-2, 2.63 ERA) on Saturday. Senior RHP
Kyle Carroll (3-5, 3.72 ERA) will take the ball in Sunday's series finale.
The ACU pitching staff has thrown 21 consecutive shutout innings after holding Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scoreless in the final three innings of last weekend's series and then recording back-to-back 4-0 shutout victories. After giving up six runs in three innings of work in a 16-6 loss to Lamar on April 2, Mason has recorded 17 straight scoreless innings himself by throwing nine shutout innings against Houston Baptist on April 8 and then hurling eight shutout innings against the Islanders on April 15.
The Wildcats are hitting .254 as a team and are led by junior infielder
Russell Crippen, who is hitting a team-high .318 with two home runs and 13 RBI. Crippen has been hot of late, raising his average from .281 on March 19 to its current .318 clip by going 17 for his last 46 (.370) at the plate.
Junior infielder
Aaron Draper is hitting .290 with one home run and 12 RBI, while senior catcher
Alex Copeland is hitting .289. Junior utility player
Braxton Wilks leads the team with 17 RBI on the season.
Sam Houston (22-16, 14-4 SLC) is riding a four-game winning streak and has won 16 of the last 20 overall. In league games, the Bearkats tops all conference foes in batting average (.328), hits (202), slugging percentage (.463) and stolen bases (33).
The Bearkats hit .466 and tallied 43 runs and 61 hits in their latest three-game sweep at Incarnate Word. Sam Houston re-set the school record for hits (30) in a 23-3 drubbing of the Cardinals on Friday, highlighted by a record-setting 7-for-7 performance from freshman Clayton Harp.
As an encore, Harp lined a two-out, two-run single to left in the ninth inning on Tuesday, giving the Bearkats a 6-5 win at Baylor. Not to be outdone, the pitching staff record 12 strikeouts, tied for third most this season.
Junior RHP Sam Odom (5-0, 2.53) will get the start Friday with RHP Heath Donica (6-2, 4.03 ERA) going Sunday and RHP Riley Gossett (4-0, 3.55 ERA) set to start Sunday.
OTHER ACU NOTES
• ACU's back-to-back wins are its first this season since the Wildcats swept a doubleheader from Northeastern University on Feb. 27 at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene.
• The Wildcats' series win last week over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi not only provided the Wildcats with their first wins over the Islanders in program history, they also served to help the Wildcats win their first series since a 2-1 series win over Nicholls (March 4-6).
