ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats carry their seven-game winning streak into Wednesday night's game against Texas-Arlington in a game set for a 6:30 p.m. start at Crutcher Scott Field.
The game will be broadcast on 98.1 FM with
Grant Boone calling the play-by-play.
The Wildcats (7-4) enter the midweek game against the Mavericks (5-7) coming off a second straight home series sweep, this time against Creighton. ACU has won seven straight starting with a series sweep of North Dakota State two weeks ago, last Tuesday's home win over Texas-Permian Basin and the three-game sweep of the Bluejays.
Here's a quick glance at each team going into the game:
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Wednesday's starting pitcher: Soph RHP David Ruot (0-1, 10.80 ERA)
On the mound: The Wildcats will give the right-hander his first start, but will probably use multiple pitchers throughout the game. … ACU has a team ERA of 5.88 with four saves, three coming from senior RHP
Brandon Lambright. … Freshman RHP
Ryan Kotulek has been solid and is 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA.
At the plate: The Wildcats are hitting .304 as a team and have scored 67 runs in 11 games, more than 1/3 of last year's total of 182 runs in 53 games. … Sophomore CF
Derek Scott (.409) has an eight-game hitting streak and on Tuesday it was announced that he had been voted the Southland Conference Hitter of the Week, the first Wildcat to be honored with that away since ACU moved back to the Southland in 2014. … Junior DH
Luis Trevino has been the lynchpin of the ACU offense, driving in a team-high 14 RBI and hitting .439, while senior OF
Russell Crippen is hitting .426 with nine RBI. … Soph 1B Koby Claiborne is hitting .417 with eight RBI, while junior 2B
Dalon Farkas is hitting .308 with eight RBI.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Wednesday's starting pitcher: Jr RHP Reid Petty (1-0, 5.00 ERA)
On the mound: A 6-foot-6 product of Mansfield High School, Petty has tossed nine innings, allowing seven hits and five walks, striking out seven and holding opponents to a .206 average. In his first start of 2017, Petty worked five innings and allowed a run in a win at Stephen F. Austin. … Last Tuesday vs. No. 23 Dallas Baptist, Petty hurled four innings, allowing four runs on three hits and four walks. In his three-year UTA career, Petty has a 2-1 record and a 5.90 ERA in 13 games and six starts. … Petty has tossed 29 career innings with 20 strikeouts. … In relief, UTA has a team-high seven appearances from RHP Dylan Schneider (0-2, 1.69 ERA) and five outings each from Jordon West (0-1, 6.14 ERA) and Jake Wilcox (0-0, 4.50 ERA). … West has UTA's lone save, a six-out performance on opening weekend.
At the plate: The Mavs are hitting .271 as a team and have scored 52 runs in 12 games. … Senior OF Quintin Rohrbaugh leads the club with a .333 average to go along with one double, one home run and eight RBI. … IF Easton Johnson has 13 hits and a .333 average, while C Will Olson has hit .333 with nine hits.
SERIES HISTORY
The Mavs lead the all-time series with Abilene Christian, 16-7, including a 6-3 mark in games played in Abilene. The Mavs swept both meetings in 2016, a 3-1 win on a Tuesday and a 7-5 win on a Wednesday in a home-and-home midweek series. ACU's last win came in 2014 in Arlington and its last win in Abilene came in 1973.
