Thursday, April 7, 2011

On Deck - Lions vs Texas-Arlington


SLU Lions (20-10, 7-5 SLC) vs University of Texas-Arlington Mavericks (16-13, 7-5)
Clay Gould Ballpark - Arlington, TX
Game 1:  6:30pm Friday April 8
Game 2:  2pm Saturday April 9
Game 3:  1pm Sunday April 10

The Line on the Lions
Offense:  .297
Pitching:  3.39/.246 OBA
Defense:  .951
Ranking:  N/A
Boyd's World RPI:  49
Last 10 Games:  7-3
Last 5 Games:  4-1
Streak:  W3

The Line on the Mavericks
Offense:  .286
Pitching:  3.67/.261 OBA
Defense:  .970
Ranking:  N/A
Boyd's World RPI:  88
Last 10 Games:  5-5
Last 5 Games:  2-3
Streak:  W1

What to Watch For
The top hitters for SLU are Justin Boudreaux (.390/6/29), Jonathan Pace (.367/1/21), and Brock Hebert (.352/1/19).  UT-Arlington's top pitchers are Lance Day (2.33, 2-4), John Beck (3.86, 1-1), and Collin Reynolds (4.66, 2-3).  Adam Boyton (4.70) has five saves on the season.

SLU's top pitchers are Tyler Watkins (1.90, 5-0), Brandon Efferson (4.40, 4-2), and Josh Janway (1.69, 3-0).  Closer Stefan Lopez (0.90) has five saves on the season to go along with 27 Ks in 20.0 innings pitched.  The top hitters for the Mavericks are Ryan Walker (.360/0/14), Michael Guerra (.333/2/15), and Brian Nephew (.330/1/17).

Last Time They Played – After losing 7-6 on Friday night last season in Hammond the Lions came back and won on Saturday 11-5 and shut out the Mavericks on Sunday 6-0 to win the series for the 2nd straight season. During the series SLU racked up 38 hits and UTA put up 35. During the 2009 season in Arlington, TX SLU won the series winning game one 8-6 and game two 1-0. On Sunday the Mavericks avoided the sweep by winning 9-0.

Arlington Again? - Because of a quirk in the schedule this will mark the 3rd time in the last four seasons that the Lions have traveled to Arlington to face the Mavericks. In their two previous trips during this time SLU is 3-3 in Arlington.

Move Their Feet – The Mavericks are last in SLC with 17 when it comes to getting hit by pitches. The Lions 66 hit by pitches rank 1st. In fact the Lions take up the top 5 spots in hit by pitches category as Trey Martin leads the way with 12. Brock Hebert (9), Cody Gougler (8), and Josh Cryer, Cass Hargis, & Jonathan Pace with seven each round out the top 5.

Should We Stay or Should We Go – The Lions have stolen 37 bases this season. UTA has only attempted to steal 31 bases. But in their 31 attempts they have only been caught 10 times.

Lord of the Sac Flies – UTA leads the SLC with 17 sacrifice flies. SLU is last with eight.

Making Contact – This weekend’s series will match the two toughest teams in SLC to strike out. The Lions are the toughest to strike out with 167 Ks for the season. The Mavericks are the second toughest with 170 Ks on the season.

Leader Board – Jeff Harkensee’s 38 RBIs lead the SLC. Justin Boudreaux leads the SLC in total bases with 81 and Tyler Watkins leads the SLC with 5 wins.

Chasing History – Cass Hargis’ 265 career hits is 11 shy of the school’s all time record held by Ty Summerlin. Hargis already holds the school’s career triples record with 16 and he is the Lions leader in all time runs scored with 197.

Not Far Behind – Josh Cryer is five hits shy of tying Macky Waguespack for 3rd place on the school’s all time hits list. Cryer currently has 205 career hits. He is also the school’s all time leader in hit by pitches with 70.

Moving on Up - Brandon Efferson is one win shy of tying Jeff Williams for 3rd place on the school's all time wins list.  Efferson's 20 wins is currently tied for 4th best with Wade Miley.

Bombs Away – When Justin Boudreaux launches his next home run he will move into the top 10 in career home runs with 24 tying Kiley Hughes.

National Scene – Boudreaux’s 35 runs scored currently ranks 9th in the country.

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