Stephen F. Austin
Abilene Christian University
'Jacks Go West for Southland Conference Series at Abilene Christian
3/22/2018 5:43:00 PM | Baseball
SFA goes in search of first Southland wins of season, has won seven straight over ACU
Game Twenty-One
Stephen F. Austin (5-15, 0-3 Southland) at Abilene Christian (13-6, 2-4 Southland)
Friday, March 23 | 6:00 p.m. | Crutcher Scott Field (4,000) | Abilene, Texas
Live Stats | Weather Forecast
Pitching Matchup | LHP Dru Dziedzic (0-2, 7.63 ERA) vs. RHP Garrett Hutson (2-0, 4.26 ERA)
Game Twenty-Two
Stephen F. Austin (5-15, 0-3 Southland) at Abilene Christian (13-6, 2-4 Southland)
Saturday, March 24 | 2:00 p.m. | Crutcher Scott Field (4,000) | Abilene, Texas
Live Stats | Watch | Weather Forecast
Pitching Matchup | RHP Sean Beasley (1-1, 8.49 ERA) vs. RHP Brock Barger (2-0, 4.97 ERA)
Game Twenty-Three
Stephen F. Austin (5-15, 0-3 Southland) at Abilene Christian (13-6, 2-4 Southland)
Sunday, March 25 | 1:00 p.m. | Crutcher Scott Field (4,000) | Abilene, Texas
Live Stats | Watch | Weather Forecast
Pitching Matchup | RHP Trevor Kiminski (0-2, 4.71 ERA) vs. LHP Colton Brasher (2-3, 5.13 ERA)
LEADOFF HITS
• Returning to Southland Conference action following a two-game stretch of non-league tilts, the Stephen F. Austin baseball team embarks on a lengthy journey in the northwestern direction for a three-game league series at Abilene Christian. The fifth all-time series between the 'Jacks and Wildcats - and the third in Abilene, Texas - starts at 6:00 p.m. Friday from Crutcher Scott Field and continues at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in the second game. The series finale is set for 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
• The 'Jacks are in search of their first Southland Conference wins of the season after starting league play with three losses to McNeese at Jaycees Field last weekend. Abilene Christian, meanwhile, has already played six league games and boasts a 2-4 record in those games. Four of the Wildcats' Southland Conference tilts have been decided by one run including a pair of wins (7-6 and 6-5) over New Orleans in Abilene last weekend.
• SFA enters the weekend's three-game set having won three of its four previous series with the Wildcats. The 'Jacks are riding a seven-game win streak against Abilene Christian and have outscored their adversaries from the northern part of the state 63-24 during that seven-game unbeaten stretch.
• In order to keep that run of success against the Wildcats going, however, SFA will need to bust out of its slump in road games. The 'Jacks are 0-9 on the road this season and have dropped 13-straight road games dating back to the 2017 season. SFA's last true road win in the state of Texas came on April 25, 2017, when the 'Jacks shocked fourth-ranked TCU, 6-2.
• There isn't a team in the Southland Conference that has belted more homers than SFA has. The 'Jacks' 17 homers are tied with Sam Houston State and McNeese for the most in the 13-team league and are the 53rd-most in NCAA Division I baseball. Four of those round-trippers have come off the bat of freshman Jared Martin who ranks third in the Southland in total home runs.
• Speaking of Martin, the first-year man out of Katy, Texas, has started each of the 'Jacks' first 20 games and has distinguished himself as one of the finest offensive players in the Southland Conference. Martin leads SFA in a multitude of offensive categories including batting average (.360), slugging percentage (.653), on-base percentage (.489), hits (27), RBI (16), runs scored (20), doubles (eight) and home runs (four).
• Martin's batting average is tied for the ninth-highest in the Southland Conference and he ranks second in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage in the 13-team league. The freshman is the only player in the 13-team league to rank among the top five in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
• Over his last three games, senior Josh Evans appears to be breaking out of his early-season slump. The Ponca City, Okla., product and reigning Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year has recorded three-straight multi-hit games and is batting .636 (7-of-11) through that stretch. Those seven hits over his last three are three fewer than his hit total through his first 17 games and the senior has struck for a double in each of the last three games, too. Through the last eight games, Evans has succeeded in upping his batting average to .179 to its current mark of .288 which ranks fifth on the team.
• Evans and Martin are two of the four 'Jacks who have racked up five or more multi-hit games in 2018. Martin leads the way with seven of them while Evans, Manny Vasquez and Skylar Black have each finished with multiple hits in five games.
• Also swinging a hot bat as of late, Vasquez has gone 10-of-19 (.526) at the dish over his last seven games. In that time, the junior has driven in seven runs and has raised his batting average from .205 to .302 - the third-highest mark on the team.
• The 'Jacks' hitters continue to maintain a watchful eye on pitches thrown by the opposition. SFA ranks second in the Southland Conference and 28th nationally having drawn 113 walks through its 20 games this season. Only Southeastern Louisiana (121) has drawn more walks in the 13-team Southland. Evans (16) and Martin (15) have combined for 31 of those bases on balls and both rank among the top three in the Southland in terms of walks drawn.
• Senior right-hander Cole Ridgely has been one of the 'Jacks' most often-used pitchers out of the bullpen. Hailing from Marble Falls, Texas, Ridgely has made 11 appearances this season - the highest number in the Southland Conference and the 34th-highest total in the nation.
• Juniors Jesus Gamez and Austin Hearn have played a big part for SFA in terms of quality relief innings, too. Both of those individuals have made 10 appearances and rank second on the team with 14 strikeouts. Hearn, a native of Crosby, Texas, possesses a 1.72 ERA as well as a 1-0 record having given up just three earned runs in 15.2 innings of work. Outside of Jake Norton who has struck out five without walking a batter in 3.1 total frames, Hearn's strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.33 : 1 is the best on the team.
• Gamez has been tough to get hits off of from the standpoint of the opposition as he has surrendered just four hits through 11 frames. Because of that, Gamez's opponent batting average is the best among SFA's crew of relief arms.
• In SFA's Tuesday night win over Grambling State, the 'Jacks belted four homers - a season high and the third-highest total in a single game in program history. It marked the first time in almost four years in which SFA connected for four long balls in a single game with the last time coming on April 8, 2014 in a non-conference setback to New Mexico at Jaycees Field.
SERIES HISTORY vs. ABILENE CHRISTIAN
Record vs. Abilene Christian | 9-3 (.750)
Streak | SFA won seven
In Nacogdoches | 5-1 (.833)
Streak | SFA won four
In Abilene | 4-2 (.667)
Streak | SFA won three
Last game | at SFA 4, Abilene Christian 2 (3/26/17)
SFA Runs/Per Game | 90/7.5
ACU Runs/Per Game | 55/4.6
Last ACU Win | April 25, 2015 (at SFA 2, ACU 6)
Last SFA Win | March 26, 2017 (at SFA 4, ACU 2)
Cardenas vs. ACU | 9-3 (.750)
SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Just 19 games into their 2018 schedule, the Wildcats have already matched their win total from the 2017 campaign and need one more Southland Conference victory to tie their total number of league victories from a season ago.
• One of the keys to the Wildcats' resurgence has been a high-powered offense that ranks among the best in the nation. As a club, Abilene Christian is batting at a Southland Conference-leading clip of .322 which also serves as the sixth-best team batting average in all of NCAA Division I baseball.
• The Wildcats' batting average is just one of their nine Southland Conference leading figures. Abilene Christian is also tops in the 13-team league in doubles (43), doubles per game (2.26), hits (216), on-base percentage (.407), runs scored (143), runs per game (7.5) sacrifice bunts (27) and slugging percentage (.455).
• Eight of the Wildcats' regulars are batting .323 or higher, but the leader of the pack is without a doubt Dalon Farkas. He leads the squad and ranks second in the Southland with a batting average of .387 while his slugging percentage of .613 represents another team-best figure. It's the fourth-highest slugging percentage mark in the Southland and is made possible by a team and Southland Conference-best 11 doubles as well as two home runs.
• Farkas ranks second among the Wildcats' ranks with 16 RBI, trailing team leader Derek Scott (20) by four. Ten (seven doubles, three home runs) of Scott's 28 hits have gone for extra bases and he is also the team's leader with five stolen bases.
• Colton Eager (.375/.455/.417), Robert Salazar (.360/.422/.453), Riley Donahue (.356/.420/.533), Dalton Dunn (.333/.446/.435) and Caleb Kyle (.323/.457/.523) round out the Wildcats' band of damage-doers on offense.
• On the hill, Jonathan Nicholson leads the team in with 29.2 innings pitched and is the lone Wildcat starter with an ERA below 4.00. Nicholson's mark of 3.94 has been aided by a team-high 25 strikeouts and as a staff Abilene Christian possesses a strikeout-to-walk ratio of almost three-to-one (156-55).
COMING UP NEXT
• Following their lengthy trip west, the 'Jacks return to Jaycees Field for a four-game home stand which begins Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. That night, SFA tangles with non-conference adversary Texas Southern.
-SFA-
