NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (22-23, 7-14) will continue their home stretch with a three-game series against the Abilene Christian Wildcats (22-21, 9-12). The series opener will be on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Maestri Field.
The Privateers' lone midweek game was a 14-9 victory over Tulane. With the win, New Orleans swept the season series over the Green Wave.
Luther Woullard was named MVP after collecting eight RBI in the three-game set.
PROBABLE STARTERS
The Privateers will go with the rotation of LHP
Brandon Mitchell (2-3, 5.93) on Friday, RHP
Chris Turpin (4-3, 3.69) on Saturday, and RHP
Steven Swift (1-3, 7.76) in the series finale on Sunday. The rotation for ACU has yet to be announced.
QUICK HITS
-New Orleans swept all three meetings of the 2019 Pelican Cup against Tulane. It was only the second time the Privateers have swept a season series of at least three meetings against the Green Wave. The first occurrence came in 1990.
-
John Barr reached two career marks in his second season with the Privateers. He picked up the win against Tulane which was the 10th on the mound. He also reached the 100 inning mark after his 3.1 inning outing against the Green Wave.
-
Reeves Martin is one save away from tying the single season program record for saves. Martin has 12 saves which leads the Southland and sports a 0.96 ERA. He was named to the Midseason NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List.
-
Jorge Tejeda threw out his sixth runner trying to steal in the series opener against Lamar. Tejeda has thrown out 30 percent of runners this season. In 20 appearances (nine starts), Tejeda has only one passed ball against him.
-
Antonio Gauthier collected two hits and three RBI in the win against Tulane on Tuesday. The true freshman has collected a hit in nine of his last 10 games. Gauthier is fourth on the team in RBI with 23 entering the weekend.
ABOUT ABILENE CHRISTIAN
- Spencer Chirpich is the Wildcats' usual Friday starter and he has piled up the wins. Entering the weekend, Chirpich is 7-2 on the season. He has won three consecutive starts (HBU, Lamar, McNeese). His longest outing of the season was 8.2 innings in a win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. His single game high in strikeouts was eight, achieved three times: vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Hartford, and Northwestern State.
- Rick McCarty is in his first season as head coach at Abilene Christian. Most recently, McCarty was the pitching coach at Dallas Baptist. In three years with the Patriots, McCarty helped eight pitchers get selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. The highest selection of that group was Seth Elledge in 2017 (4th round-Seattle). In 2004, he was an assistant pitching coach at Delta State who won the Division II National Championship. McCarty has also been at Southeast Missouri State, Campbell, and Louisiana Tech in his coaching career.
- Luis Trevnio has put up monster numbers for ACU this season. The Wildcats catcher redshirted last year due to injury. In his final season at ACU, Trevino is currently hitting .405. His 11 home runs are tied for the lead in the Southland. He also has 55 RBI which leads the Southland by nine over second place Taylor Smith (UIW). Trevino also leads the league in total bases with 112. Trevino was a Third Team All-Southland selection in 2017, his first year with the Wildcats.
INSIDE THE SERIES
The two teams have split 12 career meetings. Abilene Christian won two of three against the Privateers in Abilene in 2018.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@Privateers_BSB on Twitter,
@Privateers_BSBon Instagram, like
/PrivateerBSB on Facebook and subscribe to the
PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
