ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats will try to snap a nine-game losing streak this weekend when they host the second-place McNeese Cowboys in a three-game Southland Conference series at Crutcher Scott Field.
The series will get started Friday at 6 p.m. and will continue Saturday at 2 p.m. before the 1 p.m. Sunday series finale. Friday night's game will be broadcast on 102.7 FM The Bear, while the final two games will be broadcast on 98.1 FM The Ticket.
The Wildcats are 9-16 overall and 1-11 in the Southland Conference and have lost nine straight games, which is tied for the program's longest losing streak since ACU left NCAA Division II affiliation for NCAA Division I. The Cowboys, meanwhile, are 20-9 overall after knocking off Louisiana Tech, 5-3, Wednesday night. McNeese is in second place in the league at 10-2 overall after losing two games last weekend at Southeastern Louisiana.
The Wildcats are led offensively by senior left fielder
Russell Crippen, who enters the series second in the league in batting average at .414. Crippen is also tied for second in doubles (13), tied for third in hits (41), tied for third in total bases (69), fourth in the league in slugging percentage (.697), tied for seventh in home runs (five), and eighth in on-base percentage (.469).
Crippen is ACU's NCAA Division I era leader in doubles (39), home runs (15), RBI (85), total bases (269) and stolen bases (25). He and senior infielder
Aaron Draper are tied for the Division I era lead in hits with 179.
The Wildcats' pitching staff enters the weekend 11th in the league with a 6.80 ERA and ACU opponents are hitting .308 against the staff.
Matt Gallier leads the way offensively for McNeese with a .388 clip. Gallier is one of the top hitters in the league with 40 hits along with five doubles and eight home runs, 26 RBIs, 27 runs scored for a .670 slugging percentage and 23 walks for a .500 on-base percentage. The Cowboys sport four batters who have at least 30 hits and 25 runs batted in this season.
