Stephen F. Austin
#23 TCU
SFA Starts Four-Game Road Trip with Tuesday Afternoon Tilt at No. 23 TCU
3/4/2019 2:37:00 PM | Baseball
'Jacks head to Fort Worth for second midweek matchup against Power Five opposition
Game Thirteen
SFA (5-7) at No. 23 TCU (6-4)
Tuesday, March 5 | 3:00 p.m. | Fort Worth, Texas | Lupton Stadium (4,500)
Watch | Live Stats | Weather Forecast
Pitching Matchup | RHP Cully Mangus (0-0, 9.64 ERA) vs. LHP Haylen Green (0-0, 2.45 ERA)
LEADOFF HITS
• In its final non-conference game before Southland Conference play starts up, the SFA baseball team embarks on a journey to Fort Worth, Texas, for a Tuesday afternoon showdown with 23rd-ranked TCU. First pitch at Lupton Stadium is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. with freshman right-hander Cully Mangus getting the ball for the 'Jacks.
• SFA is 5-13 (.278) all-time against TCU. That includes a 4-8 (.333) record in Fort Worth, Texas. Under head coach Johnny Cardenas, the 'Jacks are 3-5 (.375) against TCU with all three of those wins coming in Fort Worth.
• Sophomore outfielder Jared Martin (.255/.352/.404) and senior outfielder Nick Daley (.308/.400/.308) have registered a hit in each of the 'Jacks' last three games. Their respective three-game hitting streaks are the lengthiest on the team as of this moment.
OUR 'PEN IS MIGHTIER…
• Each of the 'Jacks' five pitching wins this season have come courtesy by a bullpen pitcher. Most recently, it was freshman Jaxon Covington who secured his first collegiate win by tossing four innings of two-run baseball in an 8-7 victory over Portland last Saturday.
• Junior left-hander Jacob Stobart came on in the Thursday night series opener against the Pilots and racked up eight strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work to pick up his first victory of 2019.
• SFA's bullpen arms have a combined record of 5-3 and have racked up 49 of the team's 100 strikeouts.
• Additionally, SFA has relied on the services of three players to close things out thus far in 2019. Senior Tyler Starks and junior Jeremy Rodriguez each have two saves to their credit this season while Cully Mangus - Tuesday afternoon's starter - has SFA's fifth and final save of the season. Rodriguez has appeared in seven of SFA's 12 games this season, an appearance total that's the highest in the Southland and the seventh-highest nationally.
LUCKY 13
• Against Portland Friday night, junior right-hander Alex Palmer put forth one of the best single-game pitching efforts in SFA baseball history by striking out a career and SFA season-high 13 Pilots.
• Palmer's 13 strikeouts upped his 2019 strikeout total to 25 which is the second-highest among all Southland Conference players and the 32nd-most in the nation at this point of the season.
• Those 13 punchouts were the most by a single SFA arm since 2015 and the third-most in a single game in program history.
• For the year, Palmer owns a splendid 12.98 strikeouts per nine innings average which is the highest in the Southland.
MOORE MONEY
• In his first season at SFA, junior infielder Sean Moore has quickly become the focal point of the 'Jacks' offense.
• Moore's batting average of .343 is the highest among all SFA regulars while his 11 RBI are the most on the team. He's the only Lumberjack with 10+ RBI to his credit so far in 2019.
MOORE PROBLEMS (FOR PITCHERS)
• One of the most strikeout-averse batters in all of NCAA Division I baseball so far this season, Sean Moore leads the Southland and ranks 19th nationally in terms of the toughest batters to strike out. In 35 at-bats this season, the junior out of Waxahachie, Texas, has struck out just one time.
DALEY DOSE OF SPEED
• With senior outfielder Nick Daley back in their lineup, the 'Jacks have a big-time threat on the basepaths.
• Daley stole a trio of bases in SFA's 7-3 setback to Portland on Friday, March 1, which is the second-highest stolen base total in a single game in program history.
• There are just eight NCAA Division I baseball players who have exceeded Daley's single-game total of three stolen bases so far this season.
SCOUTING TCU | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Off to a 6-4 start, the Horned Frogs have won three of their four home games so far in 2019. The team's lone setback at Lupton Stadium came on Friday, Feb. 22 against Grand Canyon by a 4-1 tally.
• TCU has lost its last two games to Texas A&M and Rice by a combined score of 13-2. Those two tilts were part of a three-game set against three different squads at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Baseball Classic held at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, last weekend.
• Among the many things the Horned Frogs do well is wreak havoc on the base paths. TCU has stolen a Big 12-best 20 bases thus far in 2019 and leading the charge in that area are Hunter Wolfe and Porter Brown who are both six-for-seven in base thefts.
• Offensively TCU is batting .283 as a club with five Horned Frog regulars swinging at a clip of .300 or better. Jake Guenther (.382/.488/.706) and Johnny Rizer (.353/.439/.588) have combined for 25 of the team's 91 hits and three of its 11 home runs. Guenther leads the way with a team-best 13 RBI which ranks fourth in the Big 12.
• Brown (.333/.467/.389) and Wolfe (.348/.529/.478) have combined for 21 hits and seven RBI between them. Alex Isola (.320/.393/.720) is the other member of the Horned Frogs who is batting .300 or better.
• On the hill, TCU possesses a collective 3.81 ERA and has struck out 90 against just 39 walks. Tuesday afternoon starter Haylen Green is making his first start of the season and has given up three hits, four walks and one earned run in 3 2/3 innings of action this season.
• When they take the field against SFA, the Horned Frogs will be taking on their third Southland Conference foe of the 2019 campaign. TCU is 1-0 against Southland competition in 2019 after a 12-4 home win over Abilene Christian in its 2019 home opener. On Feb. 27, the Horned Frogs trailed at Sam Houston State 10-3 in the second inning before the game was called off due to foggy conditions at Don Sanders Stadium.
ON DECK
• After taking on the Horned Frogs, the 'Jacks will head to Beaumont, Texas, for their first Southland Conference series of the 2019 campaign. That three-game set starts Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. when SFA battles Lamar at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
-SFA-
