ACU hosts Air Force in historic night at The Crutch

ABILENE – The ACU baseball team opens up a six-game home stand this week with a pair of games against a group of the Armed Forces. The Wildcats (15-12, 7-5 WAC) welcome the United States Air Force Academy to Abilene for a two-game series, beginning Tuesday, April 5 at 6:05 p.m. The get-away day concludes at 3:05 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6. Air Force (10-5, 4-7 Mountain West) provides a special opportunity to play quality baseball and host the Dyess Air Force Base here in town as well. Prior to each game, there will a flyover from Dyess to The Crutch to honor our country and those fighting for our freedom. It will be a special two days at Crutcher Scott Field, as ACU unveils its brand-new video board at the ballpark as well. Tuesday night's game will air on ESPN+, while Wednesday's game airs on the WAC Digital Network.

HISTORIC FLYOVER FROM DYESS AIR FORCE BASE

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 - 6 P.M.
FLYOVER | B-1 Lancer from Dyess AFB’s 7th Bomb Wing
FIRST PITCH | Col. Kevin Kippie, 7th Bomb Wing Vice Commander
COLOR GUARD | Dyess AFB Color Guard
Oath of Enlistment

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 - 3 P.M.
FLYOVER | United States Air Force Reserves - 457th Fighter Squadron, 301st Fighter Wing, NAS JRB Fort Worth
FIRST PITCH | Col. Jeff Darden, 317th Maintenance Group Commander

SERIES HISTORY VS. AIR FORCE

• ALL-TIME | First meeting

THE PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

TUESDAY | ACU RHP Garrett Egli (0-0, 8.10 ERA) vs. AFA RHP Jake Sansing (1-1, 6.35 ERA)
WEDNESDAY | ACU TBD vs. AFA TBD

ACU STORYLINES

• SERIES WIN AT LAMAR – The Wildcats won their first road series of the season, taking two out of three from the first-place Cardinals in Beaumont. ACU won day one, 6-3, behind the brilliance of sophomore right-hander Tyler Morgan, who went 7.2 innings. Saturday saw Lamar score one in the bottom of the eighth to win 3-2, before ACU rattled off 11 runs on 10 hits in the finale to win 11-8 and win the series. ACU hit .257 for the weekend, and recorded a team ERA of 4.85 en route to evening with Lamar in the standings.
• WHERE THE WILDCATS STAND – The defending regular season Southland champs are currently in a three-way tie for first in the WAC Southwest Division. ACU, Lamar, and Sam Houston all sit at 7-5. The Wildcats host the Bearkats for three games this weekend at The Crutch.
• HISTORIC WIN – Last Tuesday's win over No. 12 TCU marked ACU's first win ever against a ranked Power 5 opponent. It was also the second-ever win over TCU for the 'Cats, and the fourth win this season over a Power 5 opponent, after having just four of them ever coming into the 2022 campaign. ACU swept Michigan State in a three-game series earlier this season in Abilene, and as far as their other wins go, the Wildcats beat Arizona in back-to-back seasons (2014-15), won at TCU in 2018, and at Texas A&M in 2021.
• MORGAN DOMINATES – Sophomore Tyler Morgan had the best and longest outing of his career on the mound at Lamar, tossing 7.2 innings in the win, allowing two earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts. Morgan's outing was the longest by an ACU starting pitcher this season, and the longest by a Wildcat since Spencer Chirpich went 8.2 innings at Sam Houston on May 16, 2021. The right hander threw 104 pitches, the second-highest total of his career; he threw 107 pitches against Northwestern State exactly one year ago, on April 1, 2021.
• CERVANTES DAZZLES – Senior Genner Cervantes threw four innings to earn his first win of the season against Tarleton two weekends ago, and repeated the effort on Saturday, throwing four more innings, and equaling a career-high with eight strikeouts. 16 of his 32 strikeouts this season have come in the last two games.
• TEAM RANKINGS THIS SEASON
  • Strikeouts Per Nine Innings - 10.6 (1st WAC, 25th NCAA)
  • Slugging Percentage - .473 (1st WAC, 42nd NCAA)
  • Home Runs - 35 (1st WAC, 42nd NCAA)
  • Scoring Average - 7.5 (1st WAC, 45th NCAA)
  • Hit by Pitch - 42 (2nd WAC, 40th NCAA)
  • Runs - 203 (2nd WAC, 50th NCAA)
  • On Base Percentage - .390 (3rd WAC, 62nd NCAA)
  • Batting Average - .288 (4th WAC, 61st NCAA)
• EAGER TO SWING THE BAT – Veteran Colton Eager has come on strong the last couple weeks, and now ranks in the top four in multiple categories in the WAC:
  • Doubles - 12 (1st WAC, 27th NCAA)
  • Runs Batted In - 31 (3rd WAC, 54th NCAA)
  • Triples - 2 (3rd WAC, 90th NCAA)
  • Total Bases - 67 (4th WAC, 84th NCAA)
• AN EYE ON THE STREAKS – Colton Eager and Tanner Tweedt each lead ACU with a six-game hitting streak, while Grayson Tatrow's reached-base streak is up to 19 games and Eager's reached base safely in 13 consecutive contests.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE (10-15, 4-7 WAC)

• The Falcons are coming off a series win at Fresno State, ACU's non-conference opponent in nine days time, winning Friday night, 6-2, and Sunday afternoon, 4-3.
• Air Force hits .257 for the season and slugs .411 with 29 homers. Sam Kulasingam leads the way with a .337 average with 18 driven in, while Gabriel Garcia is the team leader in RBI with 19.

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