ARLINGTON – The ACU Wildcats will hit the road for the first time this season when they take on UT-Arlington in the second game of a home-and-home set with the Mavericks in 2017.
First pitch for Wednesday's game at Clay Gould Ballpark on the UTA campus is set for 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard on 98.1 FM.
The teams played last week in Abilene with the Mavericks posted a 5-4 win over the Wildcats, pushing their all-time series advantage over ACU to 18-7.
Here's a brief look at each team:
ACU WILDCATS (8-7, 1-2 Southland)
Starting Pitcher: Fr LHP
Nick Skeffington (0-1, 54.00 ERA)
Next Series: ACU will be in New Orleans, La., to take on the UNO Privateers this weekend (Friday, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.)
Notes
• In his only appearance of the season, Skeffington started against Michigan State on Feb. 18 and gave up six runs (all earned) in just one inning of work. In that start, Skeffington gave up six hits and struck out one Spartan.
• In Sunday's 5-0 win over Incarnate Word, ACU junior starting pitcher
Drew Hanson pitched seven hitless innings and finished the day giving up one hit in 7 1/3 innings. He was able to work around seven walks en route to a win to push his record to 2-0 on the year.
•
Derek Scott stole four bases in Sunday's game, one off the school record for stolen bases in a game (5, set by Todd Thompson in 1992 and tied by Oscar Vargas in 2002). Scott is third in the Southland Conference with nine stolen bases (11 attempts).
• Senior outfielder
Russell Crippen is tied for the Southland Conference lead in hits with 25, while junior second baseman
Dalon Farkas is tied for third with 24 hits.
• Junior designated hitter
Luis Trevino leads the team and is fifth in the league in RBI with 17, two off last year's team high of 19 (Crippen). Trevino and Crippen are tied for second in the league in doubles with eight.
• ACU pitching staff is fourth in the Southland Conference in strikeouts with 131. The Wildcats, however, have issued the third-most walks in the league (76) behind only Stephen F. Austin (82) and Central Arkansas (80).
• ACU is third in the league in batting average (.294), fourth in hits (155), tied for fifth in home runs (eight), and ninth in runs scored (83).
• ACU has hit eight home runs this season (15 games), which is just one off last year's season total of nine (53 games).
• After an 0-4 start to the season, ACU is 8-3 in its last 11 games.
• In those four losses to Michigan State that started the season, ACU's team ERA was 11.25. In the 11 games since, the team ERA is 2.97.
• Michigan State hit .401 in the series in Abilene, but since then, ACU opponents are hitting just .220.
• ACU has outscored opponents 62-38 in the team's last 11 games.
UTA Mavericks (8-8, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Next series: The Mavericks will begin Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Georgia State.
Notes
• The Mavericks will host No. 4 Texas Tech in a non-conference game Tuesday at Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington, the home of the Texas Rangers.
• The Mavericks have won six of their last seven games entering the game against the Red Raiders, including a series win over Mil- waukee over the weekend. UTA posted a midweek win at Abilene Christian, before claiming the final two games of the weekend vs. the Panthers.
• Entering Tuesday night's game, junior second baseman Easton Johnson sports a team-high nine-game hitting streak. Johnson leads the team with 20 hits.
• Sophomore catcher Will Olson is is 12 for 15 over his last five games and has reached base safely in 20 of his last 26 trips to the plate. Over his last 20 plate appear- ances, Olson has reached base safely 16 times. On the year, Olson is hitting .459 (17- for-37) with a .545 on-base percentage. • Sophomore outfielder Aaron Funk belted a game-winning, three-run homer in UTA's series sweep-clnching win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday. • Senior Brady Cox is on the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, given annually to the nation's top catcher. Cox was a semifinalist for the award in 2016, • Sophomore righty Dylan Schneider has appeared in a team-leading 10 games in relief. Schneider has a save and has allowed only five hits in 12.2 innings. • Senior right-hander Austin Gardner earned his first two career saves last weekend, getting the final four outs to even the series on Saturday and getting the final out of the series-clinching win on Sunday. • Junior infielder/outfielder RJ Williams belted a two-out, three-run, game-winning double in the seventh inning to complete UTA's comeback win on Sunday vs. Milwaukee.
• UTA's bullpen has a 3.17 ERA in 2017 with five saves and a .242 opponent average.
