SFA Welcomes K-State to Jaycees Field
3/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Stephen F. Austin vs. Kansas State
Jaycees Field • Nacogdoches, Texas
Game One: Tuesday, March 17 • 6:30 p.m.
Game Two: Wednesday, March 18 • 6:30 p.m.
Records: SFA (6-15); K-State (10-9)
Live Stats: Game One•Game Two
Opening Pitch
The Stephen F. Austin baseball team welcomes Kansas State to Jaycees Field for a two-game midweek non-conference series on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both contests will start at 6:30 p.m.
Projected Starters
• Game One: LHP Eric Polivka, SFA (0-2, 15.09 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Halbohn, K-State (1-1, 2.00 ERA)
• Game Two: TBD, SFA vs. RHP Mark Biesma, K-State (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Scouting the Wildcats
2015: 10-9 overall, 0-0 Big 12, 0-3 away
Last Series: Beat Missouri State 2-1 (W 4-0, W 10-6, L 10-7)
Head Coach: Brad Hill (Emporia State, 1985)
Synopsis: After starting the season 4-7, the Wildcats have turned things around over the past two weeks. Since March 6, K-State has won six of eight games played, including series wins against Santa Clara and Missouri State. The `Cats own a .282 team batting average, led by Clayton Dairymple (.368), Shane Conlon (.356), Danny Krause (.333) and Tyler Moore (.320). While hitting the ball at a decent clip, Kansas State sluggers have only accounted for a combined three home runs on the year. The pitching staff has a 3.86 ERA through 19 games in 2015.
Last Time Out
The Lumberjacks are coming off a tough road series at New Orleans. SFA went 1-2 over the weekend against the Southland Conference foe, with both losses coming after the `Jacks held the lead through at least the fifth inning. SFA lost the first game 3-2 after taking a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning, won game two 3-0 behind the arm of Dillon Mangham and lost the series finale 8-3 after allowing six runs in the sixth to the Privateers.
Mangham Dealing
Dillon Mangham is coming off a big outing for the Lumberjacks in New Orleans on Saturday. He went the distance for SFA in the 3-0 victory, throwing the complete game shutout. Mangham was the workhorse for the Lumberjacks on the afternoon, allowing just four hits with no runs, eight strikeouts and one walk on 121 pitches to pick up the win. It is the third complete game of Mangham's career and the first for SFA in 2015, lowering his ERA to 5.50.
Stealing Chances
Matthew Dickey notched a stolen base in the second game of the series against New Orleans, extending his impressive season-opening streak to 12 straight successful stolen base attempts. Despite getting caught stealing for the first time in the third game of the series against the Privateers, Dickey still ranks among the SLC leaders in the category. His 12 swipes this season match his total from all of 2014 in seven fewer tries.
Offensive Leaders
Eric DeJesus leads the team in batting average this season with a .367 mark (11-for-30) in 17 games (seven starts). He has one double, one triple and five RBI to his name. Freshman Hunter Wilson has also had a productive year at the plate, batting .310 (13-for-42) in 17 games (13 starts) as the only other Lumberjack batting above .300.
Looking Ahead
Following the two-game set with Kansas State, the `Jacks will return to Jaycees Field on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a three-game SLC series against Northwestern State. The opener will start at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening, Saturday's game will begin at 2:00 p.m. and first pitch on Sunday is set for 1:00 p.m.
-SFA-
