Baseball takes winning streak to Huntsville this weekend

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The ACU baseball team, in the midst of its best stretch in its Division I program history, takes its talents to Don Sanders Stadium at Sam Houston for a key Southland showdown on the second-to-last weekend of the regular season. The Wildcats (28-17, 19-11 SLC) have won nine straight games, and put the fourth-best winning streak in the country to the test against a Bearkat squad (22-19, 16-11 SLC) who has won three of its last four. Friday's single game gets started at 6:30 p.m., Saturday's doubleheader begins at 2 p.m., and Sunday's single game has been moved to 12 p.m.

FOLLOW THE SERIES

SERIES HISTORY

• ALL-TIME SERIES: SHSU leads, 38-7
• LAST MEETING: SHSU 10, ACU 0 (2018 - Huntsville)
• IN ABILENE: SHSU leads, 5-1 (Since 2014)
• IN HUNTSVILLE: SHSU leads, 9-0 (Since 2014)
• NEUTRAL SITE: n/a
• POSTSEASON: n/a

THE PITCHING MATCHUPS

GAME 1 – ACU RHP Tyler Morgan (0-3, 7.17 ERA) vs. SHSU RHP Tyler Davis (5-3, 4.60 ERA)

GAME 2 – ACU RHP Genner Cervantes (6-1, 5.83 ERA) vs. SHSU LHP Dominic Robinson (3-1, 2.94 ERA)

GAME 3 – ACU LHP Adam Stephenson (1-4, 3.81 ERA) vs. SHSU RHP Coltin Atkinson (4-1, 2.89 ERA)

GAME 4 – ACU RHP Spencer Chirpich (5-3, 5.84 ERA) vs. SHSU LHP Kyle Backhus (4-0, 3.67 ERA)

ACU STORYLINES

• HITTER OF THE WEEK – Freshman Bash Randle was named the Southland Hitter of the Week after putting together a .545 average in three games against Lamar. The Wildcat shortstop slugged 1.182 and hit the first two home runs of his career, including a two-run homer Saturday and a three-run blast Sunday. Randle drove in five runs in three games, scored four times, and tallied six hits.
• HISTORIC FOUR-GAME SWEEP – ACU took down Lamar four times over the weekend, recording the program's first sweep of  Southland opponent since May 2019. With the new four-game weekends, it becomes that much more challenging to sweep a team; there have only been 13 four-game sweeps all season in the Southland Conference. ACU's offense was the key, as it has been all season, as the team hit .326, logged 42 total hits including nine home runs and eight doubles, and scored 28 runs. It's ACU's second sweep of the season; the team swept Arkansas State in a three-game series back in early March.
• THE STREAK – ACU is in the midst of its best baseball in a long time. The Wildcats have now won nine straight games, the fourth-best winning streak in all of college baseball, and the single best winning streak since ACU moved to Division I in 2014. During this stretch, the team is hitting .344 with 20 doubles and 14 home runs, and has scored 67 runs, for an average of over seven runs per game. ACU is pitching incredibly well too, posting a team ERA of 3.61 in this stretch, with starter Adam Stephenson posting a 1.15 earned run average. The team has allowed a .247 batting average with 70 strikeouts.
• PLAYING LONG BALL – The Wildcats used nine home runs to guide them to the sweep of Lamar, and that gives the offense 43 for the season. Colton Eager leads the way with 12, the second-highest total in the Southland Conference. Grayson Tatrow and Brett Hammit each have seven bombs, while Miller Ladusau and Mitchell Dickson each have four. ACU launched seven homers in the doubleheader Saturday against the Cardinals.
• TEAM NATIONAL RANKINGS – Here's where ACU ranks in different categories:
  • 25th (1st Southland) - Runs Scored (320)
  • 26th (2nd Southland) - Hits (442)
  • 28th (2nd Southland) - On Base Percentage (.394)
  • 31st (1st Southland) - Batting Average (.295)
  • 35th (3rd Southland) - Doubles (87)
  • 38th (1st Southland) - Runs Per Game (7.1)
  • 51st (4th Southland) - Total Walks (202)

SCOUTING SAM HOUSTON (22-19, 16-11 SLC)

• The Bearkats are coming off a series win over Little Rock last week in non-conference action, taking the final two games of the series after dropping game one.
• The pitching staff has been a headline this season, posting a team ERA of 4.87, and led by three starters who have sub-3.7 earned run averages. Coltin Atkinson, the game three starter, leads the staff with a 2.89, while Dominic Robinson, who will get the ball in game two, has a 2.94 ERA. Kyle Backhus gets the ball in game four with a 3.67 earned run average.
• Colton Cowser is the only man in the Southland Conference who has hit more home runs than ACU's Colton Eager, tallying 13 on the season. Right behind in third place in league play is his teammate Jack Rogers, who has hit 10 out of the park this season.