Wildcat baseball (7-4) takes on the University of Texas at Arlington (5-7) in one final tune-up before it starts conference this weekend.
ACU has been hot as of late, winning seven in a row and sweeping its opponents over the last two weekends, with a win against UTPB in-between. Russell Crippen said the shift started after they were swept by Michigan State to start the season.
“We tried to change our game because a big name came in,” Crippen said. “When we figured out we just needed to play our game, we started winning.”
And it’s worked. Although ACU has hit for power, with players like Crippen and DH Luis Trevino contributing doubles and home runs, the game has been a lot of small ball, getting on base and advancing the runner.
UTA has had an up-and-down season, starting off with two losses and two wins before losing five straight. Its last series, however, was against Texas A&M-Corpus Cristi, who the Mavericks swept in three games.
UTA has been good offensively but has struggled with its late-game pitching, especially when in extra innings. They’ve lost all three of their extra inning games.
Trevino leads the team in RBI (14), doubles (7), average (.439), and is tied for home runs(1), and walks (5). Crippen is also off to a hot start, hitting .426 and leading the team with 20 hits.
ACU has also had strong efforts from their starting pitching this season. Sophomore RHP David Ruot gets his first start against UTA. He is 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA.
UTA’s offense is lead by Senior OF Quintin Rohrbaugh, who leads the team with a .333 average. Junior RHP Reid Petty, a 6-foot-6-inch product of Mansfield takes the mound for UTA. Petty is 1-0 with a 5.00 ERA.
The two teams will meet again in Arlington in a few weeks. If ACU earns a win, it will become its longest winning streak since 2010 when the team won the Lone Star Conference championship.
