NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team finishes a long home stretch this weekend when they face the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. The series starts on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Maestri Field.
STARTERS
New Orleans will start the same rotation as they have previously on weekends:
Tyler LeBlanc on Friday,
Brandon Mitchell on Saturday and
Collin Horton on Sunday. Mississippi Valley State's rotation is to be announced.
The Privateers cranked four home runs in a comeback victory over Southern by a score of 10-9 on Wednesday evening. That followed a close loss on Tuesday in which New Orleans rallied back but fell short 10-7 at South Alabama.
Noah Bailey got the start as the Privateers' designated hitter and went 4-for-8 over the last two games. Bailey drove in the tying run against his former team (South Alabama) in the eighth inning on Tuesday.
Through 13 games, the Privateers have 31 RBI with two outs. Leading the team in that category is
Issac Williams who has driven in seven of his 11 runs with two outs.
Brandon Mitchell has pitched 13 shutout innings over his last two starts. After a six-inning shutout performance against Florida A&M, Mitchell set a new career high with 11 strikeouts in seven shutout frames against Brown. Mitchell's previous career-best was 10 Ks against Abilene Christian.
Tyler Bischke has been tremendous this season, hitting .409 with a .536 on-base percentage and 13 RBI. All of those marks lead the team and he is fourth in the Southland in OBP and second in batting average.
With a sweep this weekend,
Blake Dean will become a member of the 200-win club. Dean currently stands at 197 victories.
This is the first time the Privateers are playing Mississippi Valley State since 2006. All five prior meetings were at home and New Orleans has outscored the Delta Devils 67-15 in the all-time series.
Mississippi Valley State (6-6) has been a big threat on the basepaths this season. The Delta Devils have stolen 74 bases this season which leads the nation. Davon Mims is 21-for-23 in stolen base attempts while Narvin Booker is 19-for-23.
The Delta Devils are under the direction of first year head coach, Milton Barney who graduated from Grambling. Barney is the grandson of Pro Football Hall of Famer, Lem Barney.
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