SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The New Orleans Privateers will head to Texas for their penultimate Southland Conference series and their final road trip of the regular season. They will face the UIW Cardinals starting on Friday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. due to concerns of heavy rain throughout the weekend.
The Privateers finished their midweek slate in style with a 15-5 win over Southern. 10 of the 15 runs came in the last three innings as New Orleans moved to 29 victories on the year. New Orleans had 15 hits on the afternoon.
New Orleans enters the weekend in sixth place which would put them in the play-in game for the Southland Conference Tournament. The Privateers sit two games behind UIW who is in second in the standings coming into the weekend.
The Privateers have drawn their fair share of walks in the past five games. Dating back to May 2, New Orleans has drawn 51 walks. Add the hit batters and that puts nine more free passes in the past five games. The Privateers have an on-base percentage of .396 which ranks first in the Southland.
Kasten Furr leads the team and the Southland in runs with 54. He moved into a tie for ninth place in program history in that category with Brandon Bowser. Heading into the weekend, Furr has 171 runs in 169 career games.
In 19 career meetings between the two sides, seven have been decided by one run. That includes two such differentials in last year's series. UIW has slightly won more one-run duals in the series (4-3).
13 of the 19 career games against the Cardinals have come in San Antonio. The Privateers are 6-7 at Sullivan Field and they won the last series at UIW as they took three of four in the 2021 season. New Orleans also won a series at UIW in 2017.
UIW's offense is geared by four players who are hitting north of .300 on the season. Rey Mendoza leads the Southland in RBI with 54. Jimmy De Leon is the team's leading hitter at a .349 batting average and he has a seven-game hitting streak coming into the weekend.
Steve Hayward has been stout in the closer's role. He has six wins and five saves. Hayward averages over two innings per appearance and has 56 strikeouts in 36 innings.
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