BEAUMONT, Texas – With the second longest active win streak in the Southland Conference, red-hot University of New Orleans (14-15, 5-7 Southland) continues its road trip at Lamar University (6-23, 2-10 Southland) at Vincent-Beck Stadium April 6-8. The Privateers are in the midst of a 5-0 stretch halfway through the 10 consecutive away games and begins the series with the Cardinals Friday at 6 p.m. Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. and the series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW
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http://unoprivateers.com/sports/2018/2/15/baseball-game-notes.aspx?path=baseball
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HALFWAY HOME
New Orleans began its road trip 9-15, 2-7 Southland and 4-8 in games decided by one or two runs. Since then, offense and
John Michael Stephens stole the show at then #RV University of South Alabama, 21 hits in the 13-8 win over Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi,
Bryan Warzek's 16 strikeout performance and back-to-back one-run wins over the Islanders and Tulane University, respectively.
LONGEST STREAK SINCE…
The five-game win streak is the longest since the start of the 2017 season. Should UNO defeat Lamar in the series opener Friday, it would be the most consecutive W's since April 16-26, 2016 (seven).
ONE-RUN GAMES
New Orleans enters the weekend 5-3 in one-run games and the backend of the bullpen continues to shine, which leads us to…
THE BARR AND REEVES SHOW
"Reeves is very versatile in the backend and I am very confident in handing the ball to John and Reeves with a lead in the later innings," said head coach
Blake Dean when recapping Tuesday's win over Tulane.
John Barr is 2-2 with a 2.86 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 28.1 innings while
Reeves Martin, who began the year as the No. 2 starter in the rotation, has found a home as the closer with three saves in as many games. In fact, the right-hander has appeared in four of the five away games during the road trip and allowed just one hit in 4.1 innings.
With saves in the last three games, Martin has looked dominant, needing just 45 pitches to shut the door. Last season, Reeves saw action twice versus the Cardinals, earning a save in the opener and relieving
Christopher DeMayo with 4.0 innings of one-run ball in the finale.
PELICAN CUP
With Tuesday's 3-2 win, the Privateers clinched the Pelican Cup and look to sweep the series April 10 when returning to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Bryan Warzek struck out a career-high 16 in 8.0 innings to earn Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week, College Sports Madness Southland Player of the Week and Louisiana Sports Writers Association co-Pitcher of the Week Monday.
Warzek did something that hadn't been seen on a mound by a Privateer in nearly 26 years. The 16 strikeouts landed one shy of tying a program high, which was reached twice, the last occurrence by Thomas Diamond in 2004.
On the year, Warzek is 2-0 with a 2.44 ERA and 71 punchouts in 44.1 innings. He is limiting opponents to a .195 clip.
ROTATION/BULLPEN
The ace gets the nod in the opener Friday looking for his third win of the season. Last season, Warzek tossed a five-hit shutout in the 6-0 win over the Cardinals (April 8).
Games No. 2 and 3 are TBA.
John Michael Stephens has started two games during the five-game win streak, striking out nine and allowing just two runs in 9.2 innings. DeMayo (2.0 innings),
William Griffin (one strikeout in scoreless inning) and
Matt Gillis (a scoreless frame) saw action in the Lamar series last season.
Kyle Arjona is 2-2 with 26 strikeouts in 25 innings.
Gillis is 1-0 with a 3.37 ERA in 10 appearances this season but his 1.08 ERA in eight conference games (eight strikeouts in 8.1 innings) are tops among qualified Privateers.
Rafe Schindler has looked good in limited work coming back from injury with a 2-1 mark and 1.42 earned run average.
ABOUT NEW ORLEANS
Owen Magee leads the club with a .336 batting average and his four home runs and 20 RBI (tied) are second behind
Cody Ducote's five homers and 27 ribbies. Ducote went 2-for-4 Tuesday and is second in the league in runs batted in.
Beau Bratton has impressed in his debut season behind the plate, batting .321 with 20 RBI, shortstop
Darren Willis is hitting .316 setting the tone from the leadoff spot and his .400 on-base percentage is tops on the team.
Orynn Veillon rounds out the .300 hitters at .302. Freshman
Pearce Howard made a diving stop in right at Tulane that saved the game and the Maryland native is hitting .282 from the two-hole.
The 10 team triples are No. 23 nationally.
In conference play,
Jay Robinson leads the Privateers at .366, followed by Magee's .351 with five doubles and Howard's .351 with five doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI. Veillon is at .342 and stabilized the lineup since returning from injury.
On the mound, the UNO pitching staff has 33 more strikeouts than anyone in the conference despite playing three less games than most clubs, led by Warzek's league-high 71 punchouts. New Orleans is 12
th in the country in strikeouts with 10.2 per nine innings and Warzek's 71 total and 14.41 per nine are fourth and sixth, respectively.
ABOUT LAMAR
With a 2-1 loss at Baylor University earlier this week, Lamar enters with losses in six of its last seven games. The Cardinals escaped Houston Baptist University with a win in the series finale but are 2-10 in conference play. Cole Girouard is batting .320 but as a team, Lamar is hitting .208. Its relievers are have good numbers, led by Ryan Erickson's 1.71 ERA in 13 games. Jack Dallas (1-1, 2.45 ERA), Marcus Olivarez (0-1, 3.60 ERA) and Tanner Driskill (1-3, 4.13 ERA, two saves) have also appeared in double digit games.
ROTATION
Leading the team with two saves, Driskill is scheduled for his third start of the year in game one versus UNO. Southpaws Noah Sills (2-4, 4.03 ERA) and Jason Blanchard (0-4, 4.22 ERA) are expected to start games two and three, respectively.
NEXT UP
New Orleans heads to Tulane for the final game of a three-game series Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
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