Wildcats and Islanders meet for first time this season

HAMMOND, La. – Back at it again. ACU competes Thursday in round two of the 2021 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament, this time against the No. 4 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. The top-seeded Wildcats (35-19, 25-13 SLC) are looking for a spot in the semifinals after winning the opening round matchup on Wednesday against Lamar, 7-1. The game will begin at 4 p.m. at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field, and the game will air on ESPN+.

FOLLOW THE GAME - Thursday, May 27 (4 p.m.)

SERIES HISTORY

• ALL-TIME SERIES AMCC leads, 15-3 (Series began in 2014)
• LAST MEETING: AMCC 6, ACU 5 (2019)
• IN ABILENE AMCC leads, 7-2
• IN CORPUS CHRISTI AMCC leads, 8-1
• NEUTRAL SITE n/a
• POSTSEASON n/a

THIS SEASON

Something of note: ACU and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi did not play one another in the regular season.

ACU STORYLINES

• FIRST-ROUND WIN – ACU took down Lamar in the opening round Wednesday, coming back from an early 1-0 deficit in the first inning. Hunter Gieser drove in five runs with two home runs and a double, and led the Wildcats to a 7-1 victory. Freshmen Tyler Morgan and Max Huffling combined with Connor Carlton to shut down the Cardinals, holding them to a run on eight hits in the game.
• ALL-CONFERENCE – ACU had six players and head coach Rick McCarty earn a post-season honor. Junior Colton Eager was named the Hitter of the Year, sophomore Grayson Tatrow was named the Newcomer of the Year, and Rick McCarty was named the Clay Gould Coach of the Year. Eager, Mitchell Dickson, and Bash Randle are members of the all-Southland first team, while Tatrow earned second team honors. Tommy Cruz and Brett Hammit were both named third team as well.
• REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS – It might be hard to find a better rags-to-riches story in all of college baseball than what you will find in Abilene, Texas. When head coach Rick McCarty was hired in the summer of 2018, he inherited a team that had just five conference wins. And just two full regular seasons and a pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign later, the Wildcat baseball team has climbed all the way to the top. After sweeping the SFA Lumberjacks Friday, ACU is the regular season champion in the Southland Conference, cementing the No. 1 seed in the league tournament in Hammond, La. The Wildcats celebrated one of the quickest turnarounds in the country after game one on Crutcher Scott Field. Coming into Friday, the team either need a win or a Southeastern Louisiana loss to ensure a regular-season championship. They got both. ACU's 7-3 and 6-4 wins ensure a series win, a conference title, and a No. 1 seed; the final two items are both new to the program's identity.
• BATTING TITLE – Catcher Mitchell Dickson wins the batting title in the Southland Conference, leading the way with a .390 clip for the season, and a remarkable .404 average against Southland Conference opponents. Dickson also finished No. 1 in the league in on-base percentage at .476, and tallied a .487 clip against SLC teams.
• EAGER'S SEASON – It was an incredible season for right fielder Colton Eager. Eager finished third in the conference in batting average (.378), first in the league in total hits (56), tied for first in home runs (13), and third in runs batted in (39) against Southland competition. Eager was .356 for the season in total, high 17 doubles (second in the league), and tallied 53 total RBI, the second-highest mark.
• TEAM NATIONAL RANKINGS – Here's where ACU ranks in different categories:
  • 13th (1st Southland) - Hits (531)
  • 19th (1st Southland) - Runs Scored (387)
  • 20th (1st Southland) - On Base Percentage (.397)
  • 20th (1st Southland) - Doubles (109)
  • 25th (1st Southland) - Batting Average (.297)
  • 29th (1st Southland) - Runs Per Game (7.2)
  • 38th (2nd Southland) - Total Walks (243)

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (25-27, 20-14 SLC)

• The Islanders, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, walked-off with a 4-3 win over No. 5 seed Sam Houston in the first round Wednesday, with Itchy Burts singling into left center to win it in the bottom of the ninth after the Bearkats hit a three-run homer in the top half to tie it up.
• Corpus Christi placed four on the Southland's all-conference teams, headlined by Burts' first-team selection, while adding a second-team nod to John Gaddis and third-team picks Mike Williams and Luke Marbach. Marbach also landed on the league's all-defensive team at first base.