
SFA Travels East for Three-Game Southland Conference Series at Northwestern State
4/5/2018 5:49:00 PM | Baseball
'Jacks visit Demons and hope to return to the Southland Conference win column
Game Twenty-Nine
Stephen F. Austin (10-18, 3-6 Southland) at Northwestern State (14-13, 4-5 Southland)
Friday, April 6 | 6:30 p.m. | Brown-Stroud Field (1,200) | Natchitoches, La.
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Pitching Matchup | LHP Dru Dziedzic (0-2, 6.35 ERA) vs. LHP Ridge Heisler (3-2, 3.60 ERA)
Game Thirty
Stephen F. Austin at Northwestern State
Saturday, April 7 | 2:00 p.m. | Brown-Stroud Field (1,200) | Natchitoches, La.
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Pitching Matchup | RHP Sean Beasley (2-1, 8.24 ERA) vs. RHP Jerry Maddox (2-2, 2.83 ERA)
Game Thirty-One
Stephen F. Austin at Northwestern State
Sunday, April 8 | 1:00 p.m. | Brown-Stroud Field (1,200) | Natchitoches, La.
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Pitching Matchup | RHP Trevor Kiminski (1-3, 5.52 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Jones (1-3, 3.99 ERA)
LEADOFF HITS
• With its intentions set on getting back in the win column in Southland Conference action, the Stephen F. Austin baseball team travels east to Natchitoches, La., for a three-game series with longtime Pelican State adversary Northwestern State this weekend. Game one between the 'Jacks and Demons is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening while the middle game has been scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start Saturday afternoon. Sunday's series finale at Brown-Stroud Field will get going at 1:00 p.m.
• Each of the 'Jacks' three Southland Conference wins this season have come on the road. SFA swept Abilene Christian two weeks ago and is 3-0 in Southland Conference road games compared to an 0-6 mark at Jaycees Field against league competition.
• Last year's series between the 'Jacks and Demons was a favorable one for SFA who posted its first three-game sweep of Northwestern State since 2011. In Friday night's opener, the 'Jacks will try to win their fourth-straight game against the Demons - something they have not done since stringing together seven consecutive triumphs over their rivals from Natchitoches from 1986 through 1988.
• Getting a three-hit, three RBI performance from sophomore Josh Campbell, the 'Jacks put an end to their three-game losing skid Wednesday night by racing past UT Arlington 7-3.
• Campbell socked a two-run homer to left-center in the home portion of the second to give SFA a lead it never gave up. The win was SFA's third-straight over a non-conference opponent.
• Junior third baseman Jake Georgiades - who leads SFA and ranks fourth in the Southland Conference with a batting average of .368 - saw his five-game hit streak come to an end in Wednesday night's win by striking out in his only at-bat of the game.
• Georgiades continued to lead the Southland in on-base percentage. His team-best mark of .483 is one of three among SFA regulars that sits above .430. Senior Eric DeJesus ranks 11th in the Southland and second on the team with an OBP of .440 while first-year man Jared Martin is third among SFA's ranks and 13th- in the Southland with his mark of .438.
• Speaking of Martin, the first-year man out of Frisco, Texas, remains the Southland's leader in doubles with 12 so far this season. Martin continues to serve as the 'Jacks' leader in slugging percentage (.570), RBI (26), hits (35) and total bases (61) just past the midway point of the team's regular season.
• Junior Nick Daley pushed his team-leading hit streak to 10 games with a 1-for-4 showing at the plate on Wednesday night. The third-year man leads the 'Jacks and ranks second among all Southland Conference players with 15 stolen bases and he's one of four SFA players who are tied for the team lead in walks (18).
• In addition to Daley, DeJesus, Martin and Josh Evans have each drawn 18 walks, too. It's Evans' home-run hitting ability that has caused the senior first baseman to get so many free passes. Evans' six long balls are tied fir the most in the Southland Conference and as a squad the 'Jacks' 24 homers are tied for the second-most in the Southland behind league-leading Sam Houston State (29).
• In what was a welcome sight Wednesday night, eight SFA pitchers combined to rack up a season-high 13 strikeouts in the 'Jacks' non-conference victory over UT Arlington. Right-hander Trayson Kubo and southpaw Tyler Starks each racked up a trio of punchouts in that game and sophomore Logan Ammons came on to pick up his first save in a Lumberjack uniform before the night came to an end.
• Pitching has been something the 'Jacks have desperately needed since their season started. Prior to the start of 2018, projected starter Tony Grabowske was sidelined due to Tommy John surgery and after going down in just his third start of the season junior Seth Campbell had to have similar surgery on his throwing arm. Jake Norton - who was pressed into action - lasted just a third of an inning in his SFA debut back in mid-February before taking some time off to recover.
• The rash of injuries has caused senior right-hander Trevor Kiminski to serve as the team's lone member of the starting rotation with any extended amount of starting experience. Of the six quality starts (five or more innings pitched) by an SFA starter this season, the Brooklyn Park, Minn., native has delivered four of them.
• Should the 'Jacks find the magic formula among their pitchers, they'll benefit from one of the Southland's best offenses. SFA ranks second in the conference in scoring, averaging 6.7 runs per game, as well as total walks (152).
• Jarrod Huber and Manny Vasquez are both batting .310 for SFA, giving the 'Jacks four players with an average north of .300.
SERIES HISTORY vs. NORTHWESTERN STATE
Record vs. Northwestern State | 30-36 (.455)
Streak | SFA won three
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 17-14 (.548)
Streak | SFA won three
In Natchitoches, La. | 12-22 (.353)
Streak | Northwestern State won one
Last game | at SFA 3, Northwestern State 2 (April 9, 2017)
SFA runs/per game | 274/4.2
NSU runs/per game | 307/4.7
Last Northwestern State win | March 26, 2016 (at NSU 4, SFA 2)
Last SFA win | April 9, 2017 (at SFA 3, NSU 2)
Cardenas vs. Northwestern State | 14-12 (.538)
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• A single game up on the 'Jacks in the latest version of the Southland Conference standings, Northwestern State's series with SFA represents the starting point of a stretch where eight of the team's next nine games will take place in Natchitoches, La.
• The Demons took two out of three from in-state adversary Nicholls to start their Southland Conference schedule but have lost series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Central Arkansas since going 2-1 against the Colonels in the opening weekend of league action.
• Four of the Demons' six triumphs at home came in the first week of the season. Northwestern State hosted Binghamton and Penn for three-game series and took two out of three from both the Bearkats and the Quakers.
• Northwestern State's lone Southland Conference home victory of the season came via a 7-6 score in the middle game of its three-game set with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back on Saturday, March 24.
• Without a doubt, David Fry is the Demons' big bopper. One of the best bats in the Southland, Fry is swinging the steel at a clip of .371/.477/.648 and is tied for the league lead in doubles (12) with SFA's first-year phenom Jared Martin. Fry leads the league in slugging percentage, ranks second in batting average and third in on-base percentage, making him the only player in the 13-team league to rank among the top three in those categories.
• Fry's 21 RBI lead the Demons and no other Northwestern State player has driven in over 15 runs. In all, 18 of Fry's team-leading 39 hits have been of the extra-base variety and that total included five of the Demons' 16 homers.
• Kwan Adkins (.344/.443/.375) and J.P. Lagreco (.291/.348/.398) are two of the Demons' remaining top hitters and as a team Northwestern State will be swinging the bat more often than not. The Demons have drawn only 92 walks (3.4 per game) this season while striking out 242 times - an average of roughly nine times per game.
• Defensively the Demons' pitching staff relief heaving on the play of their infield and so far that brigade has been up to the task of getting their arms out of trouble. Northwestern State ranks fifth nationally in terms of double plays turned (33) and is fourth in all of NCAA Division I baseball with a double plays per game average of 1.22.
• As a staff, Northwestern State's ERA is the sixth-lowest in the Southland Conference. The Demons' figure of 4.07 is helped along by ace reliever Jose Vasquez who is 4-0 with a pair of saves to go along with his 2.25 ERA in 10 appearances so far this season. Friday night starter Ridge Heisler leads Northwestern State in terms of innings pitched (40), strikeouts (34) and has tossed a pair of complete games as part of his 3-2 record.
COMING UP NEXT
• The lengthiest portion of the 'Jacks' seven-game road swing takes place on Tuesday when SFA head to the Alamo City for a single, non-conference bout at UTSA. First pitch between the 'Jacks and Roadrunners at Roadrunner Field has been set for 6:00 p.m.
-SFA-