Baseball battles #14 Texas Wednesday night in Austin

---

Game Notes  |  Watch  |  Listen  |  Tickets

---

AUSTIN – The ACU baseball team is off to the state's capital to take on the No. 19 Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night. It is the second ranked matchup of the season for the Wildcats (24-11), who are in the midst of its toughest part of the schedule this spring. ACU is off of a 1-3 week, and will battle Texas (26-12), who is up five spots in the Top 25 rankings from last week. It's the fifth-ever matchup with the Longhorns, with all five coming in Austin, and the first time the teams will get together since the three-game series played during the 2021 season. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19, with the game airing on TV on the Longhorn Network and on the radio on the ACU Sports Network.


GAME #36
ACU (24-11, 9-6 WAC) at #14 TEXAS (25-12, 7-4 BIG 12)
Wednesday, April 19 | 6:30 p.m. | UFCU Disch-Falk Field (6,649)
Projected Starters: RHP Blake Anderson (4-2, 5.60 ERA) vs. RHP Kobe Minchey (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network
Listen: ACU Sports Network, ACUSports.com/Listen, The Varsity Network app
Live Stats | Tickets


A LOOK AT ACU
The Wildcats enter the week with a 24-11 record and a 9-6 mark in WAC play. ACU has dropped five of its last seven games including a 1-3 week at home last week. The Wildcats lost to #25 TCU, 7-5, before dropping two of three against Grand Canyon over the Weekend. ACU won a wild, 16-14 game to open the series against the Lopes, but GCU took game two, 14-2, and game three, 6-4, with the latter coming in 12 innings. ACU opens a four-game road trip this week at #14 Texas and wraps it with a three-game weekend series in Edinburg at UTRGV.


SCOUTING #14 TEXAS
Texas enters the week with a 26-12 record and an 8-4 mark in Big 12 play. The Longhorns are up five spots in this week's rankings, and now are ranked No. 14 in the country. Texas went 3-2 last week with a road win at Texas State last Monday, 5-2, followed by a home loss to those very same Bobcats the next night, 9-3. The Longhorns then went to Baylor and held on for an 11-9 win in game one before allowing five in the ninth to lose 10-9 on Saturday. Texas bounced back with a 7-6 win on Sunday to claim the series, and now the team opens a five-game home stand on Wednesday with ACU before battling Oklahoma for three this weekend. Texas is led in multiple offensive categories by Peyton Powell (.341 avg, .443 obp, .587 slg), while Porter Brown paces the team in RBI with 34. Five players have at least six homers this season. The pitching staff has a remarkable 3.76 team ERA this season.


INSIDE THE SERIES
All-Time Series: 5th meeting (Texas leads, 4-0)
Last Meeting: #3 Texas 11, ACU 1 (7) (April 18, 2021 - Austin)
Streak: Texas, w4
In Abilene: n/a
In Austin: Texas leads, 4-0
Neutral site: n/a
Postseason: n/a


THIS WEEKEND AGAINST GRAND CANYON
ACU won a marathon of a game on Friday night against the Lopes, 16-14, a game that featured 34 hits and nine different pitchers. GCU led topped the Wildcats, 14-2, in eight innings on Saturday, with Daniel Avitia going the distance with a complete game. ACU then had multiple chances on Sunday in the finale, but GCU won in 12 innings, 6-4, and ACU left the tying runs on base in the home 12th with no one out.


HISTORY FOR TWEEDT
Catcher Tanner Tweedt had a remarkable game on Friday night against Grand Canyon. The senior hit three home runs and tallied nine RBI in the game, either tying or breaking single-game records at ACU. The three homers tie his teammate Logan Britt, who did so against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 31, Luis Treviño in 2019 against New Orleans, and Joel Wells in 2006 against Tarleton. The nine RBI set a record that was previously held by Colton Eager (2021 vs. Arkansas State) and Matt McGuire (2007 vs. Southeast Oklahoma State), who both had eight.


TATROW AT THE TOP
Grayson Tatrow has hit 38 career home runs at ACU and stands alone at the top of the record book. No one has hit more in their career in Wildcat history, and Tatrow is only in the middle of his third season at ACU.


LATE-INNING HEROICS
Maddox Miesse has had a flare for the dramatic so far during his freshman campaign. The third baseman hit a walk-off single to beat Oklahoma, hit a walk-off grand slam to top Southeast Missouri, and hit a single to walk-off against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 2.


THE FIFTH INNING
ACU is outscoring its opponents by an insane margin of 46-5 this season. Of ACU's 41 homers this season, eight of them have occurred in the fifth inning, tying the sixth inning as the most common this season in that stat.


AN EYE ON THE STREAKS
Logan Britt leads ACU with a 10-game hitting streak, and his 14-game on-base streak is a team-best right now as well. Tanner Tweedt has reached base in seven consecutive games, while Bash Randle has a hit in five games in a row.


GAME AT TEXAS TECH RESCHEDULED
ACU's game at Texas Tech was originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 4, but due to bad weather and incredibly high winds that day, the game was postponed. The two teams will now get together in Lubbock on Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m.


PRESEASON POLL / AWARDS
The Western Athletic Conference announced the preseason poll and the preseason all-conference selections for the upcoming season, and the Wildcats are picked tied for fourth in the 13-team league. Junior Bash Randle and seniors Grayson Tatrow and Tanner Tweedt were all named to the all-conference list as well prior to the season. Grand Canyon was picked to win the conference, followed by Sam Houston and California Baptist. ACU tied with UTRGV and Sacramento State for fourth overall.


D1BASEBALL PRESEASON
D1Baseball released its preseason picks for the Western Athletic Conference, and ACU was picked sixth in the league and Randle was selected as a preseason first team all-WAC selection at second base. It also highlighted the top draft prospects from the conference, and in the 2023 draft, Eichelberger was the sixth-best prospect in the league, while Texas A&M transfer Logan Britt was ninth overall out of the outfield spot. Morgan, back for his junior season, came in at 13 on the list as well. In the 2024 draft, Byrd was listed fourth in line in the league. Tatrow was labeled #138 in the top 150 outfielders in the country, and Randle was selected as preseason first team all-conference. Randle returns as an all-conference selection two years in a row, while Tatrow was the Southland Newcomer of the Year and on the second team in 2021.


BACK TO ONE BIG LEAGUE
The WAC is moving back to a traditional format in 2023. All 13 teams will be in one standings list, and there will be no divisions this season. There will be 30 league games against 10 of the 12 possible opponents, and the 2023 WAC Tournament will start May 24 in Mesa, Ariz.


A GLANCE AT THE TOUGH SCHEDULE
The 2023 slate encompasses 55 games, including 30 Western Athletic Conference games (10 three-game series), and another 25 non-conference games (four series and 11 single games). Overall, the team will host 35 times at Crutcher Scott Field, the most in the Rick McCarty era. ACU will play 21 games against teams that finished in the top 100 in RPI in 2022, nine games against Power 5 opponents (Oklahoma, TCU x2, Baylor x2, Nebraska, Texas Tech x2, Texas), and 14 games against 2022 regional teams (Oklahoma, Southeast Missouri, Oral Roberts, TCU, Texas Tech, Texas, Grand Canyon). There are five first-time opponents on the slate (Southeast Missouri, Sacramento State, Nebraska, California Baptist, Utah Tech), and there are four home games against Power 5 opponents (Nebraska, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor).


THE COACH
Head Coach Rick McCarty is in his fifth season as the head man at ACU and earned his 100th career win on Opening Day. He sits at 123 career victories in his time at ACU, which includes a regular-season championship and a runner-up finish at the tournament. McCarty ranks second in all-time wins at ACU.