'Jacks Open Up Key Series With Bobcats On Friday
5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 2, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - After having won its last five games overall, the Lumberjack baseball team opens up a crucial three-game series on Friday with Texas State at 3:00 p.m. at Jaycees Field.
All three games of the series can be heard on KSFA 860AM or on www.ksfa860.com, or followed via Gametracker at www.sfajacks.com.
The Lumberjacks currently sit 3 ½ games back of Southeastern Louisiana for the eighth and final spot in the Southland Confernece Tournament with only nine games remaining on the SLC schedule.
Kevin Crabtree continues to be the most consistent Lumberjack this season, having hit safely in 28 of his last 30 games. He is currently riding a 10-game hit streak, but has been joined at the team's offensive forefront recently by senior Noel Trevino who picked up his second SLC Hitter of the Week honor on Monday. Trevino has at least one RBI in his last six games, and had at least one extra-base hit in five of his last six games.
Lance Luetge and Erik Gregersen are scheduled to throw the first two games of the series, and each are coming off their best performances of the year in their last starts. Luetge picked up the first complete-game win for anyone on the Lumberjack staff on Sunday, completing a suspended game against Nicholls State early in the morning and not walking a batter in a 7-1 SFA win. Gregersen went 7.2 innings against the Colonels on Friday, and despite allowing a season-high 15 hits, only let two runs come across the plate.
The Bobcats are currently holding on to the fourth-place spot in the SLC standings with a 14-7 mark in league play. Texas State is 24-19 overall, but was no-hit for the first time in the program's history earlier in the week when Texas' Kevin Kasparek only allowed one `Cat to reach base in getting an 11-0 win for the `Horns in no-hit fashion.
Paul Goldschmidt leads the Texas State offensive battalion, hitting at a gaudy .477 clip in SLC games - the best in the conference in league games. The `Cats are hitting over .300 as a team for the year, and against SLC pitching they have upped that mark to .352 with 23 home runs.
Their pitching staff is one of the top in the league as well, posting a 4.46 team ERA in the SLC - the second best ERA in the league. Mike Hart will get the ball for Ty Harrington's club on Friday, and the `Jacks are very familiar with him after he tossed a three-hit shutout to eliminate SFA in the semi-finals of the SLC Tournament last season. This year he sits with a 4-2 record, with a 3.98 ERA in 11 appearances.
Hart also went six innings in the first game of this season, when SFA and Texas State went extra innings to open up the season. The `Jacks got back-to-back home runs from Matt Whatley and Noel Trevino in the top of the ninth to take the lead, but the SFA bullpen could not hold the lead and Laurn Randell singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th to give Texas State an 8-7 win.
Projected pitching matchups vs Texas State:
Friday
SFA: Lance Luetge (LHP) 5-6, 4.07 ERA, 66.1 IP, 29K, 29BB
TX St.: Mike Hart (RHP) 4-2, 3.98 ERA, 72.1 IP, 74K, 31BB
Saturday
SFA: Erik Gregersen (RHP) 1-2, 6.71 ERA, 53.2 IP, 54K, 30BB
TX St.: Steven Siers (RHP) 4-1, 4.62 ERA, 62.1 IP, 45K, 29BB
Sunday
SFA: TBA
TX St.: Zack Tritz (RHP) 8-1, 4.39 ERA, 65.2 IP, 29K, 16BB
-SFA-
