LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (14-25, 10-10) will travel to Arlington, Texas, for a three-game conference series with UT Arlinton (17-26, 8-13) starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Clay Gould Ballpark. The series will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding on Sunday at 1 p.m.
SCOUTING UT ARLINGTON
The Mavericks come into this weekend's series on a five-game losing streak that started at Texas A&M. UT Arlington was swept in three games at Louisiana last weekend before losing at Houston Baptist on Tuesday.
UT Arlington has four players batting over the .300 mark this season, including Levi Scott (.323), Travis Sibley (.319), Matt McLean (.307) and Jackson Morris (.303). Sibley leads the team with 58 hits, 35 RBIs, 77 total bases, 182 at-bats and is tied for the team-high with 12 doubles. Scott leads the team with four home runs, a .468 slugging percentage and is tied with Sibley for the most doubles at 12. McLean leads the Mavs with 29 runs, 33 walks and a .439 on-base percentage.
Chad Nack will get the start for UTA on Friday night. Nack has a 5.06 ERA while leading the club with 36 strikeouts in a team-high 69.1 innings on the mound. Nack has given up the most hits (99), runs (42) and triples this season (7). Opposing batters are hitting .347 against Nack this season.
UT Arlington will start Brad Vassar on Saturday afternoon. At 2-5 for the season, Vassar leads the Mavs' pitching staff in losses and walks (17) while sporting a 4.02 ERA in 47 innings on the hill.
The Mavericks will put Joel Kuhnel on the mound for Sunday's series finale with the Trojans. Kuhnel has the lowest ERA of this weekend's starters for UTA at 3.58 in 55.1 innings pitched this season.
SERIES AGAINST UT ARLINGTON
UALR is 3-7 all-time with UT Arlington. The Trojans took one game from the Mavericks last season at Gary Hogan Field by winning 8-6.
ON THE MOUND FOR THE TROJANS
Jarrid Garcia will make his eighth start of the season on Friday night against UT Arlington. In Sun Belt games this season, Garcia has struck out the sixth-most batters with 40 and has the sixth-lowest opposing batting average at .230.
The Trojans' ace, Cory Malcom, will make his 11th start on Saturday. Malcom has pitched the ninth-most innings in the Sun Belt this season at 67. Malcom has been one of the league's most efficient pitchers as he's tied for the eight-lowest walk total in the conference at 15. Malcom sports the Trojans' lowest ERA at 3.63
Sunday's starter is to be announced and will depend on the rest of the weekend series.
OVER .300
Three Trojans are hitting over the .300 mark this season, including Ryan Scott, Tanner Rockwell and Kyle Kirk. After 39 games in 2014, only two UALR players were hitting above the .300 mark which included Rockwell with a team-leading .322.
After hitting just .209 at the same point of the season last year, Scott leads the Trojans this season with a .344 batting average, enough for fifth-best in the Sun Belt. Scott leads the conference with 17 doubles (22nd in the nation) and 0.44 doubles per game (12th in the nation). Earlier this year, Scott had a hitting streak of 17 games. Scott has the most multiple hit games for a Trojan this season at 15.
Rockwell has the second-highest batting average for UALR at .329. In Sun Belt action this season, Rockwell leads the league with 35 hits and 24 RBIs. As the leadoff batter, Rockwell is hitting a team-high .489.
Kirk rounds out the list of Trojans hitting over the .300 mark at .328. Kirk has the second-most RBIs this season at 21 and is hitting .363 with runners on base. Against right-handers, Kirk leads UALR with a .367 average. Kirk has been clutch with when hitting with two outs this season with a .421 average, the highest on the team.
FIELDING MATTERS
UALR has the best overall fielding percentage in the Sun Belt at .976, ranking 27th-best in the nation. The Trojans have only committed 34 errors this season, the fewest in the conference. To compare, Arkansas State and South Alabama have the next fewest errors at 43. After 39 games last season, UALR had a fielding percentage of .960 and had committed 63 errors.
In Sun Belt games this season, UALR also boasts the highest fielding percentage at .984 while also committing the fewest errors with 12.
CATCH 'EM IF YOU CAN
Senior catcher Drew Merten has caught 21 baserunners stealing this season, the most in the Sun Belt conference. Merten caught three baserunners stealing on Sunday against Indiana State.
On the offensive side, Merten carries a 12-game reached base streak into Tuesday night's contest with the Cowboys, the longest active streak on the team. Merten's streak is also tied for the fourth-longest this season.
OFFENSIVE SITUATIONAL SUCCESS
UALR's leadoff batters are hitting .381 this season while pinch hitters are hitting .423. The Trojans have been clutch this season with a runner on third and two outs as they are hitting .584.
NEXT TIME OUT
After concluding this weekend's series in Arlington, UALR will wrap up its Sun Belt home games with a three-game series against ULM next weekend at Gary Hogan Field.
