No. 4 ACU battles No. 3 Seattle U at 2 p.m. CT

MESA, ARIZ. – The ACU baseball team hopes to keeps its postseason dreams alive at the WAC Tournament on Thursday. The No. 4 Wildcats take on the No. 3 seed from the West Division, Seattle U, in an elimination game. The Wildcats (26-28, 14-16 WAC) fell to top-seeded Grand Canyon on Wednesday night, and face the Redhawks (16-33, 11-19 WAC), who fell at the hands of Lamar a day earlier. It's the first-ever meeting between the schools in baseball, and the elimination game gets underway at 2 p.m. CT (12 p.m. PT) at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland Athletics of the MLB,  and the game will air on ESPN+.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SEATTLE U

• ALL-TIME | 1st meeting
• LAST MEETING | n/a
• STREAK | n/a
• IN ABILENE | n/a
• IN SEATTLE | n/a
• NEUTRAL | n/a
• POSTSEASON | n/a

THE PROJECTED PITCHERS FOR THE WEEK

WEDNESDAY | ACU RHP Tyler Morgan (6-3, 4.87 ERA)
THURSDAY | ACU RHP Genner Cervantes (5-4, 5.58 ERA)
FRIDAY | ACU LHP Adam Stephenson (2-3, 6.33 ERA)

ACU STORYLINES

• ALL-CONFERENCE – Sophomore Bash Randle was named to the All-WAC Second Team as well as the All-Defensive team. Randle hit .314 for the season in 51 games, and hit eight home runs and drove in 35. The super star short stop was recognized for his stability on defense as well, finishing with a fielding percentage of .975 and made countless remarkable plays in the busiest position on the field.
• AN EYE ON THE STREAKS – Bryson Hill has reached base safely in a team-leading 17 consecutive games. Miller Ladusau has a current eight-game hitting streak, a team-high.
• PITCHING RECORDS – Earlier this season, the 'Cats struck out 20 batters as a team at SFA, setting a new Division I program record in a single game. The Wildcats also have set a new single-season record for any era in program history, striking out 544 batters. ACU has also set a new program record for strikeouts/nine innings at 10.42.
• THE POWER IN THE LINEUP – The power has been on full display this season for ACU. As a team, the 'Cats have hit 80 home runs in 2022, the most in any season in any era ever. ACU has a team slugging percentage of .487, the highest in any single season ever as well. The team is one run scored away from setting a new Division I single season record as well (currently at 403). ACU also set a new D1 record for hits in a season with 553.
• INDIVIDUAL RECORDS – Tyler Morgan has more strikeouts in a career than anyone at the D1 level for ACU (158), while Grayson Tatrow's 27 career home runs are the most in the D1 era for the Wildcats. Colton Eager's 134 runs batted in are the most in the D1 era, his 363 total bases rank No. 1, and his 88 career walks are tops in the D1 era. Tanner Riley's 11 career saves now rank No. 1 in the D1 era as well. Tatrow's 17 home runs, 64 runs scored, 65 RBI, and 42 walks taken this season are the most in a single campaign in ACU's Division I history as well. Genner Cervantes' 11.9 strikeouts/nine innings are No. 1 in the D1 era in a single season as well.
• SENIOR DAY – ACU recognized its 10 seniors on May 15 against Lamar. Alexei Cazarin, Genner Cervantes, Tommy Cruz, Colton Eager, Garrett Egli, Hunter Gieser, Trevor Jackson, Tanner Riley, Connor Carlton, and Carter Sells have all made significant contributions to the Wildcat baseball program, and will be honored for their accomplishments. As a group, they have won 116 games including 58 conference wins. In that stretch included the historic 2021 campaign that featured 36 wins, 25 in Southland Conference play, and a regular-season league title, the first of its kind at ACU since moving to Division I.

SCOUTING SEATTLE U (16-33, 11-19 WAC)

• The Redhawks come into the loser's bracket with an opening round loss to the No. 2 seed Lamar, 6-4. Seattle U got off to a good start, taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning when Trevor Antonson hit a three-run homer, but Lamar took a 4-3 lead after the third inning. Seattle tied it at 4-4 with a Matt Boissoneault homer, but Lamar took the lead for good in the home sixth.
• Boissoneault finished the season as the statistical leader in seven categories for SU.

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#ATO | #GoWildcats