NATCHITOCHES, La. – The University of New Orleans (10-5, 1-2 Southland) pays a visit to Brown-Stroud Field and Northwestern State (8-6, 1-2 Southland) for a three-game Southland Conference match-up. Game one on Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Saturday's game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, and the series finale on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m. first pitch.
The last time these two teams faced each other was in the 2018 Southland Conference Championship game, which saw the Demons defeat the Privateers 7-5.
Collin Morrill went 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
Beau Bratton,
Scott Crabtree, and
Darren Willis each added a base hit.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Game Notes:
https://unoprivateers.com/sports/2018/2/15/baseball-game-notes.aspx?path=baseball
Stats:
https://nsudemons.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Audio:
https://unoprivateers.com/watch/?Live=1557&type=Live
Video (Saturday and Sunday):
https://nsudemons.com/watch/?Live=1876&type=Live
Social Media
Twitter:
@Privateers_BSB
Instagram:
@Privateers_BSB
Facebook:
/PrivateersBSB
YouTube:
PrivateerAthletics
FIRST PITCH
•
Salo Iza is tied for third in the Southland in walks drawn. The junior transfer has been issued 15 free passes and has a .392 on-base percentage.
• Head Coach
Blake Dean secured his 100th win at New Orleans on Tuesday against the Ragin' Cajuns. Five of those wins have come against nationally ranked schools.
•
Pearce Howard was named the first Southland Hitter of the Week of the 2019 season on Feb. 19 Howard went 6-for-10 with four RBI against Michigan St.
•
Gaige Howard drew four walks in the series finale vs. Yale. The junior outfielder fell one free pass shy of tying the single game program record which was achieved twice.
• The Privateers have seven triples which is 15th in the nation and second in the conference (only trailing HBU) after Tuesday's set of games. New Orleans cranked two triples against Louisiana on Tuesday.
• The next two weekend series will be against the defending Southland tournament champs (Northwestern St.) and regular season champs (Sam Houston State).
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday: LHP
Brandon Mitchell (1-0, 5.91 ERA) vs LHP Ridge Heisler (1-1, 1.75 ERA)
Saturday: RHP
Chris Turpin (2-0, 1.90 ERA) vs RHP Jerry Maddox (0-0, 7.79 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs RHP Nathan Jones (1-1, 1.80 ERA)
- Mitchell will get his second consecutive Friday start. He limited Nicholls to two runs over 6.0 innings last week...Turpin won his first two starts of the season and has gone 6.0 frames in three of his four starts.
- For NSU, Heisler in his last outing against Abilene Christian went seven innings giving up three runs on six hits and he struck out five… Maddox went 2.2 innings in his last start, allowing eight runs on seven hits and punching out four… Jones in his last start versus the Wildcats went 6.0 innings only allowing three runs on six hits and he also fanned 7 batters.
MORRILL OF THE STORY
Collin Morrill has been a steady force in the Privateers' lineup. The senior first baseman is hitting .345 through 15 games and has reached base in all but one contest this year. Morrill has five multi-hit games after his two-hit performance on Tuesday. He leads the team in hits and total bases.
EXTRA EXTRA
New Orleans enters the weekend with 34 doubles under their belt, third most in the Southland. The Privateers added four doubles to that total in the Tuesday win in Lafayette. Only McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi have more doubles (35 each).
ABOUT NEW ORLEANS
-
Collin Morrill is batting .345 with 12 RBI, which are tops on the squad. He also leads the team in slugging percentage (.527).
-
Pearce Howard (.326),
Gaige Howard (.316), and
Wade Raburn (.306) round out the .300 hitters.
-
Darren Willis went 3-for-4 last time out against Louisiana with an RBI and three runs scored. He also raised his batting average 36 points and is now hitting .291 on the season.
-
Salo Iza has 15 walks on the season which ties him for third in the Southland Conference.
-
Reeves Martin is tied for the league lead in saves with four on the year. Martin is two saves away from tying
Ryan O'Shea in career saves at UNO.
-
Mathew Oset has pitched in 14.2 innings this season allowing only seven hits and one run. After his inning of work against the Ragin' Cajuns, Oset's ERA now sits at 0.61 with 17 strikeouts and opponents are hitting .137 off him.
ABOUT NORTHWESTERN STATE
- The Demons are also riding a wave of momentum into the weekend set after defeating nationally ranked LSU 3-1 on Tuesday night. Cullen McDonald handcuffed the Tigers over 7.2 innings, allowing just five hits and one run. Tyler Pigott closed the game for the save. Jeffrey Elkins' two-run double put the Demons ahead for good in the sixth inning. It was the 12th win by the Demons in 71 career games vs. LSU.
- Northwestern State is in the same spot as New Orleans after one conference weekend. The Demons took the long trip to Abilene Christian and came away with one win, a 24-11 thrashing in the second game of the series. Northwestern State scored two runs combined in the other two games.
- Caleb Ricca has been the focal point in the Demons' offense. Ricca, who jumped his batting average 51 points from his freshman to sophomore year, has seen another huge uptick this season. Ricca is hitting .370 with two homers and 14 RBI. He has collected a hit in 11 of 14 Demon contests this season.
- Head coach Bobby Barbier led the Demons' turnaround to Southland champions last year and won Conference Coach of the Year honors. Barbier was twice an assistant at Northwestern State before taking the head coaching job in 2017. Barbier also was an assistant coach at Alabama. In that span, 12 student-athletes were drafted.
- Jerry Maddox is one of many pitchers who return off last season's team that ran to the NCAA Regional in Corvallis. Maddox took home a slew of awards in his first season with the Demons. He was Southland and LSWA Newcomer of the Year, First Team All-Conference and All-State and Second Team All-Academic. This year, Maddox has been tagged for 19 runs (15 earned) in 17.1 innings.
- Jose Vasquez was the man who sealed the deal for Northwestern State in the championship game. He pitched the last four innings of the title game for the Demons. In his first year with Northwestern State, Vasquez pitched to a 2.90 ERA and earned six wins along with four saves.
- Two players were drafted off last year's championship team. David Fry went in the seventh round to the Milwaukee Brewers. Kwan Adkins was a day three selection, going in the 30th round to the San Francisco Giants. Fry hit .315 in 61 games with 12 homers and 57 RBI for Helena. Adkins stole six bases in 35 games last season.
- Among baseball alums, Lee Smith tops the charts. The Castor, Louisiana native was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Smith pitched for 18 seasons in the big leagues and amassed 478 saves. Smith was a seven-time all-star and was the runner up to Tom Glavine in the voting for the 1991 Cy Young Award.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@Privateers_BSB on Twitter,
@Privateers_BSB on Instagram, like
/PrivateersBSB on Facebook and subscribe to the
PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
