ACU baseball returns to the diamond Friday for the Bourland-Ardoin Classic against Missouri State University at 7 p.m.

The Wildcats enter the game with a 5-1 overall record while Missouri State enters the game with an impressive early season record of 6-2.

The team will look to build on their solid start both offensively and defensively.

Offensively, the Wildcats are led by Senior Seth Spivey who is batting an incredible .571 with seven runs batted in along with going 4-5 in stolen base attempts through the team’s first six games.

The pitching staff have also had a great start. They own an era of 2.88 and have 56 strikeouts.

Sophomore Garrett Demeyere leads the pitching staff into this weekend, as he’ll get the start on the mound. Demeyere leads the team with a 0.75 era in twelve innings of work.

Missouri State starts a string of tough games for the Wildcats. They also play Saturday at 3 p.m. against Grand Canyon State, a College World Series participant last year.

“Grand Canyon is a really good team,” head coach Britt Bonneau said. “They have a really great pitching staff and we are going to be challenged this weekend again so we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Spivey said the team is more than ready to face off against a tough schedule over the next few weeks.

“I feel confident in our pitching staff and if we keep swinging the bats like this and putting up runs the way we have in the last few weekends we should be fine,” Spivey said. “We just need to get some extra work in this week and we will be fine.”

Sunday ends the classic with another College World Series team in Kansas State. The Jayhawks finished out last season with a 45-19 record and made it all the way to the super regional.

The Wildcats will head to Norman, Okla. to take on Oklahoma after this weekend. ACU finishes its rough schedule with other Div. I opponents Utah, UTA and Texas Tech.