Marler Ford Classic Offers Quality Baseball

3/9/2017 2:46:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information

This weekend Louisiana College baseball will host the Marler Ford Classic at Billy Allgood Field and feature three teams in six games over three days. The Wildcats will play two games against future conference opponent Belhaven University and three games against the Eureka College Red Devils from Eureka, Illinios. Eureka and Belhaven will also play a single game in Pineville this weekend.

LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO (LC)

Eureka College | 1-2

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The Red Devils will complete their southern road trip this weekend in the Marler Ford Classic at Louisiana College. They played their first three games of the season this week, taking down Rust College 27-1 in the season opener before losing a doubleheader against Belhaven, 12-2, and Millsaps, 9-5, on Wednesday in Jackson, MS. On the young season for EC, Evan Smith has gotten off to the best start going 5-for-11 in the first three games of the season. Three other players have five hits on the season and each of those have four RBI each through the first three games.

On the mound, the Red Devils have used eight different pitchers, with none going more than 5.0 innings in an appearance. Braden Mann got the teams only win going 5.0 innings against Rust College giving up five hits and no runs with four strikeouts.

Belhaven | 8-6

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The Blazers snapped a three game losing skid on Wednesday with a 12-2 win over Eureka in Jackson, MS. Before that Belhaven were swept on the road by nationally ranked University of Texas at Tyler. The Blazers have six starters with batting averages over .300 on the season. Daniel Ammirati leads the team in hitting at .426, hits with 20, and doubles with seven. Terrell Hodges and Stephen Sexton each have three home runs this year and double digit RBI.

The Blazers have used four different starting pitchers this season. Tanner Cable leads the team with a 3.63 ERA and 22.1 innings pitched this year. He has struck out 25 batters and walked 11 and opponents are hitting .233 against him. Two other pitchers have 3-1 records this year and a team ERA of 5.26, ninth in the ASC.

Louisiana College | 9-3 (4-2)

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The Wildcats are coming off back-to-back come from behind victories in the their series at McMurry University. Thanks to an 8-run ninth inning and a 6-run 10th inning in the final two games of the series, the Wildcats were able to take the series over the War Hawks. LC has the top ranked pitching staff and the second ranked offense in the conference at this point in the season. The team ERA is the only one in the ASC below three at 2.59 and LC is one of just four teams hitting over .300 as a team this year at .329.

Seth Stevens continues to be a force at the top of the Wildcats lineup. He leads the team in batting (.460), hits (23), runs (15), doubles (4), home runs (2), and RBI (19). Eight other regular players have a batting average over .300 on the season. As a team LC ranks third in the ASC in runs scored and first in fewest strikeouts on the year.

The pitching staff ranks first in the conference in team ERA at 2.59, and lead the conference in fewest hits, runs, walks, and is tied for fourth for most strikeouts with 99. Charlie Waddingham leads the team in innings pitched with 21.1 and a 3-0 record in four starts this year. Austin Thompson and Jacob Buchanan have pitched the next most innings this year with a 2-2 combined record. Thompson leads the team in strikeouts with 27 in 18.0 innings of work, and opponents batting average at .179.

The Wildcats will play five of the six total games in the Marler Ford Classic this weekend at Billy Allgood Field. All games will have live stats available through the Louisiana College portal page HERE. After the series of games this weekend, the Wildcats will travel to conference rival East Texas Baptist University for a three game ASC series. Stay connected to Louisiana College baseball all season long at www.lcwildcats.net, following @LC_bsb on Twitter and liking LC Athletics on Facebook.

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