The Wildcats are preparing for the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Baseball Tournament this weekend at Foster Field in San Angelo. The team has made it to the tournament six out of the past seven years, but fell short last season.
“We’re excited to be back in this tournament,” head coach Britt Bonneau said. “This is a place where ACU baseball is used to being.”
Junior Travis Schuetze said he is most excited about the atmosphere going into the tournament.
“There will be more people at these games which makes it more exciting,” he said. “Every hit and run is bigger at this stage.”
The ‘Cats earned the sixth and final spot in the tourney last weekend after Cameron University was swept by Tarleton State University.
Despite losing all four games against Angelo State University to end the season, ACU finished 11-17 in the conference (24-26 overall), one game ahead of CU (10-18).
Schuetze has long forgotten last week’s games.
“We’re on the dance floor now,” he said. “We have to erase the past and move forward.”
The Wildcats will be tested early in the LSC tournament as they have to take on the No. 1 seeded Rams Saturday at 7 p.m. The format for the tourney is a six-team bracket with a double elimination.
ASU ended the regular season at the top of the division with a 36-14 overall record and a 20-8 mark in the LSC. Texas A&M University-Kingsville (18-10) was two games behind Angelo State.
“Their definitely a team that has a lot of things going for them,” Bonneau said. “They have good arms on the mound, a good bullpen and they hit the ball well.”
The Rams were 15-7 in their last 22 games. They have a seven-game winning streak going into this weekend and beat the ‘Cats by a combined score of 46-7 in the last regular season series of the year.
ASU has seven regular starters hitting above .300 on the year. Lee Neumann is at the top of the list with a .398 average. He is tied for the team-lead in home runs (6) and hits (70). Neumann is also the leader in runs, doubles, triples and slugging percentage.
Ryan Greer has an impressive 52 RBI’s in 50 games played for Angelo. He has swiped a team-leading 26 bases out of 31 attempts.
As Bonneau said, pitching is also a strong suite of the Rams. The team has five pitchers with at least five wins.
Michael Lange is undefeated this season with a 7-0 record and a 3.46 ERA. Starter Rick Reyna is striking out almost a batter per inning (57 total strikeouts).
“The regular season is behind us,” Bonneau said. “It doesn’t matter what your ERA or batting average is anymore. It’s about taking one game at a time and seeing how far you can go.”
