The Wildcats will continue their seven-game road trip this week with a midweek matchup with Stephen F. Austin University and a weekend series against McNeese State University.

In the team’s series last weekend, it won 2-of-3 on the road at University of New Mexico. The Wildcats scored a total of 28 runs while winning Friday and Saturday’s games before losing the series finale Sunday afternoon.

“I thought overall it was a really solid weekend for us,” Head Coach Rick McCarty said. “New Mexico is traditionally a really tough place to pitch… I thought our guys battled.”

While the team is in the middle of a lengthy stretch of road games, the Wildcats have also played a significant number of their non-conference games this season at home. Through 24 games, 15 have been played at Bullock Brothers Ballpark and 21 have been played in Texas.

“I think sometimes it’s just good to get out,” McCarty said. “You’re together, there’s not a lot of other stuff going on. You’re in the hotel hanging out. NCAA was playing, so you’ve got some stuff to watch and root and cheer against or for.”

In the series victory over the Lobos, Brady Gray, sophomore catcher from Farmersville, hit three home runs while driving in eight runs over the three games.

“This is adjustment time,” McCarty said. “I thought Brady did a really good job adjusting over the weekend. He got on time with some fastballs early. He’s been having some really good at-bats… The process has been good. He’s just not had a lot of results show for him.”

Zandt Payne, graduate from Edmond, Oklahoma, had eight hits while hitting in the 2-hole for the Wildcats. Payne, in his third year as a Wildcat, has spent the majority of his time hitting leadoff. Over the last several games, Payne has hit behind either Grant Watkins, senior from Los Alamos, New Mexico, or Ryan Jones, redshirt freshman from Aledo.

Against New Mexico, it was Jones who hit leadoff on Sunday. Over the weekend, he had five hits, including two doubles.

“He has a lot of really good at-bats,” Payne said. “He just finds ways on base, which is why I think we put him in the leadoff spot. He can provide that spark, too. That’ll help us get going early in games.”

Now, as the team looks ahead to SFA, they’ll look to play a much different game than the 20-10 victory on March 4 in Abilene. The Wildcats were down 10-1 before scoring 19 unanswered runs and run-ruling the ‘Jacks in Abilene.

“You never want to get down 10-1,” McCarty said. “They’ve got a new coach, he’s doing a really good job and the guys are believing down there.

They’ll play in Nacogdoches on Wednesday before heading to McNeese for the three-game series. McCarty said that while the team enjoys having the same routine and resources while at home, getting on the road can bring the team together.

Starting with the series last weekend in New Mexico, the team will play in seven weekend series in seven different states, including New Mexico, Louisiana, California, Indiana, Utah, Texas and Arizona, if the team makes the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

“If we make the conference tournament, we’re going to be on the road seven of ten weekends in seven different states,” McCarty said. “It’s going to be a challenge. But you get to hit first on the road. You get to be a little bit more aggressive.”

Ahead of the games with the Lumberjacks and Cowboys, McCarty emphasized playing clean defense while continuing to get consistent offensive output like the team has recently.

“It all starts with defense,” McCarty said. “We’ve got to continue to catch and throw. Our first 11 games weren’t good, but we’ve basically cut our errors in half over the last 11.”

SFA has improved to 13-12 on the year since losing to the Wildcats earlier in March. Senior infielder Julian Swift has swung the bat well for the Jacks, hitting .340 on the season with 10 doubles and three home runs.

The Wildcats have not played McNeese since 2019. The former Southland Conference Rival is 12-12 on the year and will have a midweek game of its own, against Louisiana Christian. In the two teams’ series history, the Wildcats are 4-11 against the Cowboys and have lost 5-of-6 games on the road.

“Once we get going as an offense, we’re really pretty hard to stop,” Payne said. “Once we figure out starting early and are able to jump out on teams and keep rolling, we’re going to be a very tough offense to beat.”

The weekend series at McNeese will be the last for the Wildcats before WAC play begins. The team will welcome California Baptist to the Big Country next week for the first weekend of WAC play.

“I think this team, for as long as I’ve been here, has gotten closer and closer together,” Payne said. “I think these road trips are a big part of it.”