Baseball is Louisiana bound for matchup with Southeastern

HAMMOND, La. – The annual longest road trip of the season is here for the ACU baseball team as its heads 653 miles to the other side of the Mississippi River to Southeastern Louisiana for a four-game series. The Wildcats (16-11, 8-8 SLC) looks to bounce back after its first series loss of the season at home to Northwestern State, but the task is not simple as the Lions (18-10, 11-5 SLC) sit atop the league standings after a four-game split with McNeese. ACU does not want this be the lone trip to Hammond this year; the 2021 Southland Conference Tournament is being held at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field beginning May 29. The entire series with SLU can be seen on ESPN+.

FOLLOW THE SERIES

SERIES HISTORY

ACU has struggled over the years against SLU, trailing the all-time series, 8-1. The lone win came back in 2015 on the second day of the series, and SLU has won seven straight since. The teams did not meet last season because of COVID-19, and SLU swept a three-gamer in Hammond in 2019.

THE PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

Game 1: RHP Tyler Morgan (0-1, 3.82 ERA) vs. RHP Will Kinzeler (3-1, 2.77 ERA)

Game 2: RHP Genner Cervantes (5-0, 5.20 ERA) vs. LHP Trey Shaffer (1-2, 4.76 ERA)

Game 3: LHP Adam Stephenson (0-4, 4.81 ERA) vs. RHP Will Warren (5-1, 2.28 ERA)

Game 4: RHP Spencer Chirpich (3-1, 6.15 ERA) vs. RHP Brennan Stuprich (2-1, 4.20 ERA)

ACU STORYLINES

• STILL STRONG: Despite a cooler than normal weekend against Northwestern State, the Wildcat offense is still amongst the best in the country in multiple categories. This is where they rank nationally in different offensive statistical categories: 10th - Runs (215), 16th - Walks (138), 16th - Doubles (56), 18th - Hits (271), 23rd - On-Base Percentage (.400), 23rd - Batting Average (.295).
• EAGER TO HIT: Colton Eager leads the Southland Conference in multiple categories, including batting average (.389 - 7th NCAA), walks (20), hits (42 - 7th NCAA), runs scored (30 - 15th NCAA), runs batted in (27), and total bases (73 - 13th NCAA). The junior is absolutely lighting it up at the plate, ranking 21st nationally (4th SLC) in doubles (10), third in the league in home runs (7), third in the SLC in on-base percentage (.481), and third in the league in slugging percentage (.676). It has been a dynamic start to 2021 for the North Richland Hills native.
• THE LEADOFF MAN: Mitchell Dickson was moved up to the top spot in the order, and he has absolutely delivered. Dickson is second in the conference, behind Eager, with a .388 batting average, and has found ways on base, with an OBP of .483, the second-best number in the league. Dickson ranks third int he league with 38 hits, and is tied with Eager for the league-lead in RBI (27). Dickson's 27 runs scored rank fourth in the conference as well.
• A HISTORIC GEM: Right-hander Genner Cervantes tossed a complete-game shutout in the second game of the series against Northwestern State. Cervantes became the first starting pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout (albeit seven innings) since Kyle Carroll shut out Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 16, 2016. It was also the first shutout of the season for ACU, and the first since April 16, 2019 against Arlington Baptist.

SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (18-10, 11-5 SLC)

• The Lions dropped the first two of the series against McNeese over Easter weekend, but bounced back with wins in the final two games to earn the split at home.
• It's been a combination of dynamic offense and good pitching; SLU averaged 7.3 runs per game and has a team ERA of 3.69.
• Jacob Burke leads the team with 27 RBI, while Preston Faulkner has driven in 23. Evan Keller leads the way with a .339 average.
• The four starting pitchers for the series have a combined 3.52 earned run average.