The Wildcats enter the last weekend of the regular season fighting for the remaining two spots in the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The Angelo State University Rams stand in the ‘Cats way. A four-game series with No. 19 ASU begins Friday at 6 p.m. in San Angelo and goes into Saturday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. The series concludes with a 2 p.m. Sunday contest.
After losing a disappointing 3 out of 4 games versus the Texans last week at Crutcher Scott Field, the Wildcats dropped from fifth to sixth in the LSC. The team could miss out on the playoffs for a second straight year if it does not win at least three games in San Angelo.
“This has been a team that can rise to the occasion and I think we’ll play well this week,” said head coach Britt Bonneau. “We know what we have to do.”
ACU is not the only team with something to lose this weekend. The Rams (32-14) are currently tied for first place in the conference with Texas A&M University-Kingsville at 16-8. The ‘Cats (24-22, 11-13 LSC), on the other hand, are jammed in the bottom three with Tarleton State University and Cameron University.
“Angelo plays with a lot of confidence which makes them a good team,” Bonneau said. “We’re going to have to bring our A-game and play with a lot of intensity every single inning.”
The ACU bullpen had a nightmarish series with TSU. With three outs away from recording a doubleheader sweep, the ‘pen gave up three free passes in the seventh inning and allowed all of them to score resulting in a Tarleton comeback, 3-2.
The next day the bullpen was whacked around for seven runs in the final three innings in a 10-8 loss.
Infielder Rodge Macy is not worried about a let down at Angelo State.
“We’ve persevered throughout the entire season from tough losses,” he said. “It shouldn’t have any affect on this weekend.”
Angelo State won 3 out of 4 over Cameron last week to improve to an impressive 20-4 at home. The Rams had no trouble with the Aggie pitchers as they recorded 31 hits and 18 runs. Their pitching staff posted an ERA of 2.25.
ASU is third in the conference in team batting average (.309). The top four individual batters are Lee Neumann (.387), Toby Semler (.356), Ryan Greer (.340) and Brett Parsons (.336). All four are ranked among the LSC’s top-20 hitters.
Neumann leads the team in home runs with five while Greer is the RBI leader with 40 and the top base stealer (25).
The ‘Cats also have several top-20 offensive players. Senior Duncan Blades is 12th in the conference in hitting with a .356 average and third with 16 doubles. Infielder Chuck Duarte is fourth in batting average (.378). Tyler Eager ranks in the top-five in hits, runs, doubles, triples and total bases.
Duarte has been red hot the last month of the season. He has raised his average 78 points hitting .565 since April 1.
