Baseball Hosts UMHB for Senior Weekend

4/27/2017 3:11:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information

The Louisiana College baseball team begins their final three-game series of the regular season on Friday hosting the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in an American Southwest Conference set. The Wildcats have already locked up a spot in the ASC post season but has an opportunity to improve their seeding based on the outcome of the weekend. The series will begin with a doubleheader Friday evening at 4 p.m. and end with a single game Saturday afternoon at 12:15 p.m. with pregame senior recognition beginning at 11:45 a.m. at Billy Allgood Field.

Mary Hardin-Baylor | 19-16 (13-8) 5th ASC

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The Cru enter the final weekend of the season winners of five of their last seven games, but dropping two of three last weekend at home to the University of Texas at Dallas. UMHB used a stellar pitching performance in game two of the series to get the 2-1 win, holding the Comets to just four hits in the game.

This season the Cru are scoring an average of 5.3 runs on 8.3 hits per game and batting .262 as a team with a .358 on-base percentage. They have five players with batting averages over .300 on the season, led by sophomore Mitch Patterson's .361 clip. He leads the team with 44 hits in 122 at-bats this season. Slugger Ty Johnson has a team-high eight home runs and 31 runs batted in this season and is third on the team in runs scored with 25 and batting average at .330.

On the mound for the Cru, only two pitchers have more than 30.0 innings of work this season, Nathan Kent (59.0) and Evan Samoff (44.2). Kent has a 5-4 record in 10 starts with a 2.44 earned run average and Samoff is 2-5 in nine starts with a 5.04 ERA. Their top strikeout pitcher, Aaron Barteau, has 43 Ks in just 23.2 innings of work, all in relief, averaging almost two strikeouts per inning. UMHB has a 5.26 team ERA and is allowing 6.8 runs on 9.5 hits per game.

Louisiana College | 19-17 (9-12) 7th ASC

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After a break from ASC play last weekend, and winning one of their three games against a ranked Centenary College team, the Wildcats return to conference play with plans on improving the position in the postseason tournament. LC is 1-5 in their last six ASC games, the lone win coming on a walk-off passed ball against the University of Texas at Tyler on April 7. Regardless of the outcome of the series in Pineville this weekend, LC will return to postseason play, but has a chance to improve to the No. 6 seed with some wins and some help. They sit just 1.0 game behind Howard Payne for the six spot, with the Yellowjackets taking on UT Dallas this weekend in Richardson.

The Wildcats have a .295 team batting average, which is led by senior Seth Stevens' .392 clip. He tops the Cats in most all offensive categories including hits (56), RBI (33), doubles (11), runs (27) and slugging (.552). Stevens is just six shy of tying the LC school record for hits in a season of 62, put up by Mark Riendeau in 2013, and has a chance to finish in the top five in batting at the end of the season. The highest batting average for a single season in LC history is .409, set by Craig Roberson in 2001. LC is putting up 6.5 runs on 9.3 hits per game this year.

LC's pitching has been solid all year long, and is led by senior Charlie Waddingham, who has a 5-2 record, suffering his second loss last weekend to Centenary, with a 2.52 ERA. He has thrown 71.1 innings this year in 11 starts, allowing 2.8 runs per starts on 7.0 hits. The ace out of the bullpen this season have been senior Evan Mativi, who has made 13 appearances and thrown 19.2 innings the most of any pitcher without a start on the year. Mativi has a 1.37 ERA with thee saves, 22 strikeouts and a .181 opponents batting average.

The Wildcats are playing good baseball at the right time, as the season comes to an end and the playoffs begin. LC will return to the conference tournament next weekend and play at either UT Tyler, ETBU, or UT Dallas in the first round, four-team, double elimination tournament. This weekend's series begins Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Billy Allgood Field with a doubleheader and end Saturday on senior day at 12:15. The pregame presentation will begin at 11:45 a.m for the 14 Wildcat seniors.

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