Stephen F. Austin
Army
SFA Starts Five-Game Home Stand with Two-Game Series against Army
3/11/2019 6:00:00 PM | Baseball
'Jacks host a U.S. service academy for first time in program history
Game Seventeen
SFA (8-8) vs. Army (5-7)
Tuesday, March 12 | 6:30 p.m. | Jaycees Field (1,000) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Pitching Matchup | RHP Cully Mangus (0-1, 16.20 ERA) vs. RHP Mike Gagliardi (0-1, 23.14 ERA)
Live Stats | Watch (Facebook Live) | Weather Forecast
Game Eighteen
SFA vs. Army
Wednesday, March 13 | 6:30 p.m. | Jaycees Field (1,000) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Pitching Matchup | RHP Trayson Kubo (0-0, 3.97 ERA) vs. TBA
Live Stats | Watch (Facebook Live) | Weather Forecast
LEADOFF HITS
• Fresh off a three-game Southland Conference sweep of Lamar, the SFA baseball team returns to its home venue of Jaycees Field to begin a five-game home stand Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. against Army. That game is the first of a two-game set for the 'Jacks and Black Knights.
• Tuesday night's tilt against the Black Knights represents the first meeting between the two programs and also signifies SFA's first showdown on the diamond against a United States service academy.
• The 'Jacks' two-game series against Army also represents SFA's first meetings against a program from the Patriot League.
• SFA's sweep of Lamar marks the first time since the 2011 season that the 'Jacks started Southland Conference play with a 3-0 record. That season, SFA won a program-best 37 games.
STARTER SYNOPSIS | CULLY MANGUS
• Freshman right-hander who is making his his second start of the season and sixth appearance…Worked a season-long two innings against Wichita State.
STARTER SYNOPSIS | TRAYSON KUBO
• Senior right-hander who is making his third start of the season and fifth appearance…Worked a season-long six innings and did not factor into the decision in a 3-2 extra-inning victory over Wichita State.
LAST TIME OUT | LAMAR SERIES
• Over the 'Jacks' three-game set at Lamar to start Southland Conference play, they relied on some strong pitching performances to get the job done. SFA arms posted an ERA of 1.67 over the three-game series while combining for 23 strikeouts against only eight walks.
• Junior right-hander Alex Palmer started the series with a dominant eight-inning performance in which he yielded just one run on four hits. Palmer struck out nine Cardinals in the win, too.
• With those nine strikeouts, Palmer upped his 2019 total to 34 - the second-highest sum in the Southland Conference this season. Those 34 punchouts also rank as the 25th-most by any NCAA Division I arm so far in 2019.
• Freshman southpaw Jaxon Covington drew the start Saturday and put forth a quality six-inning outing in which he surrendered just two runs (one unearned) on six hits.
• In all, SFA's starting rotation pitched 16 of the 27 innings in the series and no arm out of SFA's bullpen exceeded 2 2/3 innings of work on any given night through the set.
• Freshman outfielder Brandon Uhse batted .500/.500/.500 during the three-game set in Beaumont. He went 7-for-14 at the dish, drove in a pair of runs and stole two bases in the first Southland Conference series of his career. Currently Uhse leads the team and ranks fifth in the Southland with 22 total hits. He recorded multiple hits in each of his outings against Lamar and is now up to seven multi-hit games in 2019.
• Sophomore Jared Martin extended his hitting streak to a team-best six games by batting .417/.500/.500 in the three-game set. He drove in one run and drew a pair of walks while posting multi-hit games in two of SFA's three tilts.
• Senior speedster Nick Daley was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts through the series. He scored three of SFA's 13 runs during the series while posting a slash line of .333/.467/.333 over the three-game stretch.
• Senior Manny Vasquez busted out of an 0-for-13 slump at the plate by legging out an infield single as part of a 2-for-4 day in the middle game of the series. Vasquez crushed a two-run homer to cap off SFA's four-run first in game three which would up serving as the eventual game-winning hit.
• Jarrod Huber and Jordan Monacy eat hit a triple in the series opener Friday night. That makes five SFA players who have registered a triple so far this season and also included on that list are Josh Campbell, Antonio Lima and Martin.
• Once again, Sean Moore failed to strike out during the series. The junior has posted a slash line of .347/.396/.408 and currently leads the team in batting average and RBI (12).
SCOUTING ARMY | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Through their first 12 games of the 2019 campaign, the Black Knights have yet to play a home game. Army's first 17 games of the season send the Black Knights to five different states including Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Virginia.
• Last weekend Army suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Houston at Schroeder Park. All of those games were decided by three or fewer runs and in the series finale Army let a 4-0 lead slip away as the Cougars completed the sweep with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.
• The trio of Trey Martin (.356/.370/.662), Jacob Hurtubise (.333/.509/.524) and Anthony Giachin (.319/.414/.553) lead the way for the Black Knights on offense. Each of them has started the 12 games Army has taken part in so far and together Martin (10) and Giachin (17) have accounted for 27 of the team's 71 RBI. Between the three of them, they have accounted for 19 of the team's 28 extra-base hits.
• Hurtubise has drawn 14 of the team's 77 walks and has accounted for nine of its 26 stolen bases. Those 14 walks are the most by any Patriot League player and the 43rd most in the nation. Additionally, his four triples are the most by any NCAA Division I baseball player in the land at this point.
• Giachin leads the Patriot League and ranks 10th nationally with eight doubles.
• Army's pitching staff possesses an ERA of 3.87 and has done a good job of limiting free passes. The Black Knights have struck out 97 batters while allowing just 37 walks and nine hit by pitch.
CLOSIN' UP SHOP
• With the return of senior Jesus Gamez, who made his 2019 debut for the 'Jacks last week, SFA now has a trio of pitchers with whom to call on to close things out.
• Gamez notched a pair of saves in his three appearances last week and Jeremy Rodriguez earned his team-leading third save in SFA's series opener against Lamar.
• In all, SFA's eight saves have been distributed among four individuals. In addition to Gamez and Rodriguez, senior Tyler Starks (two saves) and freshman Cully Mangus (one save) have each collected at least one save for SFA this season.
ON DECK
• SFA concludes its five-game home stand by welcome Southland Conference and in-state rival Houston Baptist (4-11, 0-3 Southland) to Jaycees Field this weekend for a three-game series. Game one gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening.
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