NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (25-24, 9-15) will begin their penultimate series of the regular season on Friday against the HBU Huskies (17-30, 9-15) at Maestri Field.
Due to expected rain this weekend first pitch for the series opener is has been moved up to 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
The Privateers won their lone midweek contest on Tuesday, defeating Southern 5-4. The win moved New Orleans to 17-11 in home games this year.
Collin Morrill homered for the second consecutive game and
Cortlynn Ramirez picked up his first collegiate win.
ROTATION
FRI: LHP-
Brandon Mitchell ( vs. RHP-Brady Batten (2-5, 4.33)
SAT: RHP-
Chris Turpin (4-4, 4.14) vs. RHP-Kyle Gruller (3-3, 2.18)
SUN: RHP-
Steven Swift (1-3, 7.16) vs. RHP-Zach Carter (4-7, 4.44)
QUICK HITS
-
Reeves Martin notched his 13th save of the year, tying the single season program record. He also broke the program record for career appearances after pitching in his 85th game. Martin's save total ranks fourth in the nation. He also hasn't allowed a run in 11 straight appearances (15.1 IP).
- Nine seniors will be honored before Saturday's game: student-athletes,
Scott Crabtree,
Zach Thompson, Morrill,
Carlos Kelly,
Brayson Smith,
Mathew Oset, and
John Barr along with student-assistant coaches,
Ryan Brewer and
Johnny Giavotella will all be recognized.
- Morrill parked his team-leading sixth home run of the season on Tuesday against Southern. Morrill enters the weekend tied for first in the league in runs scored (45) and tied for third in doubles (15). His .292 batting average is second on the team.
- The Privateers and Huskies played six times last season. New Orleans won four of those meetings. The two teams hooked up three times in the Southland tournament with New Orleans winning two of those contests.
ABOUT HBU
- Last weekend, HBU went on the road and took two of three against Nicholls in Thibodaux. The first two games went a combined 27 innings. HBU won the series finale and took the weekend on the strength of Zach Carter's complete game which encompassed 132 pitches. It was the first complete game by a Huskies pitcher this season.
- Entering the weekend, HBU is seventh in the league in hitting with a .260 batting average. They also rank ninth in slugging percentage and runs scored. The Huskies have drawn 152 walks, which is third fewest in the league. Individually, Brandon Bena leads the team in batting average at a .324 clip. Bena also leads the team in home runs (5) and RBI (35).
- Jared Moon is in his 14th season at the helm of the Huskies. He oversaw the transition from NAIA to Division I. In his second year in the Southland, Moon guided the Huskies to a tournament championship and a spot in an NCAA regional. He won 84 games in his first two seasons as head coach at HBU. Moon is 20 wins away from eclipsing the 400-win mark. Moon is the fourth head coach since the Huskies baseball program came into existence in 1990.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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@Privateers_BSB on Twitter,
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/PrivateerBSB on Facebook and subscribe to the
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