The Wildcats will start a seven-game home stand when they face Sacramento State University this weekend in a three-game series starting on Friday at the newly unveiled Bullock Brothers Ballpark at Crutcher Scott Field.
Halfway through the season, the team is 17-11 and 2-4 in the Western Athletic Conference.
ACU is coming off a road series last weekend against Utah Valley University, in which they went 1-2. In the second game of the series, the Wildcats won in a comeback victory, scoring eight runs in the ninth inning to win 18-14.
In the first game of the series the team lost 9-7 and in the final game of the series lost 7-2.
Head Coach Rick McCarty said his team needs to play complete games this weekend.
“For us to win this series and have an opportunity to win all three, it’s going to take really good starts with our pitching staff,” McCarty said. “And it’s going to take that one through nine, just consistent, quality at-bats to put a little more pressure on their group.”
Weather will also be a factor in how the series will play out. With rain forecasted on Friday and Saturday, delays may occur. Friday’s starting time has been moved from 6:05 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. in hopes of getting ahead of the rain.
McCarty said the delays and change of starting times affect the team more than the weather itself, though he believes his team will handle the weather well this weekend.
This weekend’s series will be the third conference series of the season for the Wildcats. After playing their first two series against the top two teams in the conference, Grand Canyon University and UVU, they are in sixth in the standings.
ACU has the third best overall record in the conference at 17-11 but with a 2-4 conference record the team will need to perform well the rest of the season to be top team in the WAC. Sacramento State is coming into the series with a 15-13 record and a 3-3 conference record.
With wins this weekend, ACU could jump into the top five in the standings.
“If we can pitch, get off the field with two outs and extend innings with two outs and cash in when we have those opportunities, I honestly think that we’ll have a chance to make a pretty good run here down the stretch,” McCarty said.
He says that the league is built around pitching and that ACU needs to be able to match that. The Wildcats have two of the best pitchers in the WAC: Dominick Reid, junior right-handed pitcher from Little Elm, and Brett Lanman, sophomore left-handed pitcher from Fairview.
Reid leads the conference in batters struck out with 50 and Lanman is third with 43. McCarty said all of three of the starting pitchers need to perform well this weekend for the team to be successful.
After the Wildcats series against Sacramento State, they will play Utah Tech University in a three-game series next weekend and then face the University of the Incarnate Word on April 15 before traveling to Arlington on April 17.
