ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats will get the 2017 baseball season started this weekend when one of the premier programs in the Big Ten Conference visits Crutcher Scott Field for a four-game series that begins Friday and ends Sunday.
Michigan State – which last year won 36 games – will take on the Wildcats in the season-opener at 4 p.m. Friday, and then the two teams will play a 12 p.m. doubleheader Saturday before wrapping up the series with an 11 a.m. game Sunday. This season marks the 21st season the Wildcats have been under the direction of head coach
Britt Bonneau, who is 722-435-1 in 20 seasons as the head coach.
ACU was 16-37 last season and has been picked to finish 12th in the 13-team Southland Conference this season by both the head coaches and sports information directors' pre-season polls.
The Wildcats return key starters in outfielders
Russell Crippen and
Hunter Markwardt, as well as senior third baseman
Aaron Draper, sophomore shortstop
Mark Pearson and sophomore outfielder-turned-first baseman
Derek Scott.
Crippen hit .306 with a team-high three home runs and 19 RBI last season, while Pearson hit .258 with eight RBI and Draper hit .253 with one home run and 16 RBI. The Wildcats return key pitchers
Drew Hanson (1-2, 6.98 ERA in 16 appearances) and
Brandon Lambright (0-2, 2 saves with an 8.04 ERA in 19 appearances).
The Wildcats will welcome back junior left-hander
Austin Lambright, who missed last season with Tommy John surgery. Lambright should be one of the Wildcats' top starters going into the season, and he'll be carrying a 1-6 career record into the season, although he had outstanding fall and winter workouts.
His twin brother,
Brandon Lambright, could be the Wildcats' closer as he is the team's returning leader in saves with two. The Wildcats added senior graduate transfer
Keaton Brewer, who was 3-1 last season with New Orleans, and also signed freshman
Bryce Hill from Houston, and he could be one of the Wildcats' top starters in 2017.
ACU has also added catcher
Luis Trevino, who played last season at Navarro College. Trevino should be the Wildcats' starter behind the plate from Opening Day throughout the season. He'll be backed up by freshman
Lane Bourland (Abilene Wylie) and freshman
Cole Solomon (Coppell).
Michigan State has six returning starters back from last season's squad that posted a 36-20 overall record and was 13-11 in Big Ten action, reaching the Big Ten Tournament semifinals as the No. 6 seed.
Headlining the returners is senior catcher Matt Byars, who started 54 of 56 games behind the plate last season. The Lodi, Wisconsin, native threw out 12 runners and was also a force at the plate, hitting .284 with 26 RBI. His 16 doubles were second most on the team and his 11 doubles in Big Ten play led the conference. Byars was selected in the 24th round and No. 723 overall by the Minnesota Twins in the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft, but opted to return to Michigan State for his senior season.
Another headline returner is senior second baseman Dan Durkin, who earned first-team all-Big Ten honors last season. Durkin led all conference second basemen during the regular season in batting average at .330, earning first-team all-conference honors.
Anchoring the Spartans' pitching staff is junior righthander Ethan Landon. The Sioux Falls, S.D., native posted an 8-3 record with a 2.75 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 85.0 innings pitched.
