ADA – The East Central University baseball team will open the home portion of the 2016 season, Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. when they host Arkansas-Fort Smith at Ken Turner Field. ECU will then hit the road for a three-game series at West Alabama, Feb. 11-13.
The Tigers (0-4) lost three games last weekend at the SAU DII Classic at the Ballpark. Despite the four losses, ECU has five players with a batting average of .400 or higher for the season.
Junior
JT Stevenson is leading ECU at the plate with a .500 batting average, one run scored, two hits and an RBI. Junior
Thomas McGarry has a .429 average, with six hits, five RBIs and one run.
On the mound, sophomore
Kyle Britt has seen action in two games, throwing 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits and two runs. He has a 1.35 ERA, a .286 opponent batting average and has struck out two. Sophomore
Brandon Dusenberry adds a 2.57 ERA, .192 opponent batting average and seven Ks in 7.0 innings.
The Lions went 4-0 last weekend against Northwestern Oklahoma State at home. The game against the Tigers is the first road contest for the year and the fifth of nine-straight games against teams from the Great American Conference.
UAFS tallied 22 runs (12 by NWOSU) on 33 hits (26 NWOSU). They also earned a .284 to .215 batting average lead in the series.
Josh Vanderpool is the top producer at the plate, with a .667 average. He has scored twice, recorded six hits and two RBIs and been walked seven times. Vanderpool is the only player with a batting average over .400, as the next person on the list has a .364 average. Jacob Leal leads the team with five runs and four hits.
Evan Sanders and Hasten Freeman both picked up victories for the Lions. Sanders threw 4.0 innings, allowing three hits and striking out seven, while Freeman went 5.0 innings, with five hits and one run allowed and earned 5 Ks.
West Alabama went 2-1 in its opening weekend at Palm Beach Atlantic and will be playing the first games at home when the Tigers come to town. WAU out-scored PBAU 21-5 in the series and earned a 32-19 hits advantage and a .317 to .202 batting average lead.
Nick Delgado leads the Tigers with seven hits, three runs and an RBI for a .636 average. Mitch Holgate adds a .500 average, five hits, two runs and an RBI.
Josh Jones and Evan Anderson both earned a win in six innings of work. Jones allowed one hit and struck out three, while Anderson allowed six hits and one run, with 3 Ks.
Tuesday's meeting with the Lions will be just the fourth since 1999, with UAFS holding a 1-2 advantage. However, the Tigers have won the lone game played in Ada and the last in the series (Feb. 22, 2011 – W, 9-8).
West Alabama and ECU will be meeting for the first time in school history.
After the weekend away, the Tigers will start a five game home stand when Northeastern State comes to town, Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. ECU will also open the GAC season the following weekend (Feb. 19-20), hosting Southwestern Oklahoma State.
