The Wildcats will head to San Antonio for a conference battle with the University of the Incarnate Word this weekend, as ACU tries to keep pace with conference leader McNeese State.

ACU has a 23-16 record and are 12-3 in conference but only 7-6 on the road. However, the Cardinals are struggling this season with an 8-31 record and 3-12 in conference play, are are also just 1-7 at home.

Junior pitcher Hannah Null (8-12) and Freshman  pitcher Sidney Holman (15-4) lead a pitching staff that has played excellent this season and have compiled over 100 strikeouts.

“We are both so different,” Holman said. “Our pitching styles can make it tough for teams to adjust going back and forth from one to the other.”

ACU is coming its first conference series loss of the season, a three-game home series with Nicholls State, where the Wildcats dropped the first two games and bounced back to win the series finale. Nicholls holds the tiebreaker over ACU for the second spot in the conference, but will need to perform well this weekend against the conference-leading Cowgirls to stay there.

UIW traveled to  Natchitoches to play Northwestern State last weekend and dropped two-of-three to the Demons. But one of the Cardinals’ brightest spots in the season came in a ninw-inning, 5-4 win over cross-town rival UTSA. Similarly, the Wildcats gained a 5-1 win over west-Texas rival, Texas Tech on April 5.

“We stack up well with everyone in our conference,” head coach Bobby Reeves said. “If we do what we know we can, hopefully we will have some success.”

The Wildcats prepare for a double-header Friday and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. The series concludes Saturday at noon at Cardinal Softball Field.