Wildcat baseball will have another big weekend of non-conference play ahead of it, playing in the 2026 College Baseball Series in Cleburne starting Friday. Coming into the weekend, ACU has won both of its series to start the season and is 5-3 overall.

“That’s the goal every weekend,” Head Coach Rick McCarty said. “If you can do that over the course of the year, you’re going to be in a good spot in the league and overall.”

Despite some of the highs, ACU has been tested through the first eight games with a loss to Dallas Baptist and one loss in each series against St. Thomas and Oral Roberts.

“We’ve learned a lot,” McCarty said. “We play good people that have won championships in the last calendar year… honestly, that is what you need.”

McCarty said he is looking forward to finding more ways to be consistent throughout the next stretch. A steady arm for the Wildcats this season has been transfer Aiden Coleman, a junior right-handed pitcher from Stone Oak.

Through 12 innings, Coleman is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA, 11 strikeouts and a .179 opponent batting average.

“He’s been great. A great pickup and a really good fit for us,” McCarty said. “He checks a ton of boxes … a great teammate … and high motor.”

Overall, the combined arms for ACU are what McCarty believes will become a real strength for ACU, with the big three being Coleman, Brett Landman, a junior left-handed pitcher from Fairview, and Cade McGarrh, a senior right-handed pitcher from Frisco.

“When you can start a guy like Brett who’s been through the wars, then start a guy like Coleman with ACC experience … then Cade, who’s been in the program three years … that’s a good foundation,” McCarty said. “As pitch counts increase, that becomes a real strength of ours.”

Offensively, the consistent play by Maddox Miesse stands out. Miesse, senior catcher from Adkins, leads the team in average at .474 and a 1.502 OPS with 2 home runs.

“He’s got institutional knowledge,” McCarty said. “He knows what this thing looks like. His focus right now is on our team and on teammates as the leader. It’s allowing him to free up and play.”

As ACU enters a stretch of three games in Cleburne, a trip to Fort Worth to play No. 10 TCU, then a midweek on Wednesday against Stephen F. Austin, and then to end the week with a series against Rice, McCarty described it as almost a conference vibe with five games in six days.

“Who doesn’t want to play games?” he said. “They’d much rather play than practice. We got some brands to play that we normally don’t play … I’m excited for the program.”

The first of these games comes against a first-time Division I opponent in Texas State University. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at La Moderna Field.