LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (14-28, 10-13 Sun Belt Conference) will host its final home conference series of the season when it goes up against the ULM Warhawks (23-25, 10-14) starting on Friday at 6 p.m. The series will continue at 2 p.m. on Saturday before concluding at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
SCOUTING ULM
ULM comes into this weekend's series after taking two of three games from Troy last weekend.
The Warhawks are led on offense by Keelin Rasch with a .347 average in 193 at-bats. Rasch leads the club in hits (64), home runs (8), RBIs (37), total bases (107) and slugging (.554). ULM's other .300 hitter is Kodie Tidwell with a .312 average. Tidwell leads the Warhawks with 18 doubles, a .417 on-base percentage and is tied with Rasch for the most runs with 35.
ULM will throw right-hander Alex Hermeling (4-6) with a 3.58 ERA on Friday night against UALR. Hermeling leads the Warhawks with 75.1 innings and 12 starts. Hermeling has given up the most hits, runs, walks and triples of any ULM pitcher this season.
The Warhawks will put their ace on the mound on Saturday as lefty Trey Setzer (6-2) makes his 10th start of the year. Setzer sports the lowest ERA among ULM's usual starters at 3.15 and holds the team-high for strikeouts (72). Setzer has given up the most home runs (5) and thrown the most wild pitches (12) this season.
ULM's Sunday starter is currently up in the air depending on how the rest of the weekend goes.
SERIES AGAINST ULM
UALR is 26-42 all-time against ULM. The Trojans' last win over the Warhawks came in a sweep of ULM on March 31, 2013, as the Trojans won 13-3 in seven innings at Gary Hogan Field.
ON THE MOUND FOR THE TROJANS
Lefty Jarrid Garcia (1-3) will make his usual Friday night start in the series opener against ULM while right-hander Cory Malcom will make his team-leading 12th start on Saturday.
Depending on how the weekend goes, the Trojans are likely to throw Sam Thoele or Cameron Allen on Sunday.
CONFERENCE WINS
The Trojans are one conference win away from tying last year's total of 11.
Two wins this weekend would give the Trojans their most conference wins since the 2013 season when UALR picked up 13. The Trojans can tie that total with a sweep over the Warhawks this weekend.
SUN BELT TOURNAMENT
With only six conference games left in 2015, the Trojans are looking to secure a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time since 2013. With a three-game sweep against ULM and one Arkansas State loss to Texas State this weekend, UALR can lock up a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Troy, Ala.
OVER .300
Three Trojans are hitting over the .300 mark this season, including Ryan Scott, Kyle Kirk and Tanner Rockwell. After 42 games in 2014, only two UALR players were hitting above the .300 mark which included Rockwell at .302.
After hitting just .205 at the same point of the season last year, Scott leads the Trojans this season with a .337 batting average, enough for 10th-best in the Sun Belt. Scott is tied for conference lead with 18 doubles (25th in the nation) and 0.43 doubles per game (17th 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 16.
Kirk is just behind Scott with a .331 batting average. Kirk has the second-most RBIs this season at 23 and is hitting .369 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 .410 average, the highest on the team.
Rockwell has the third-highest batting average for UALR at .329. In Sun Belt action this season, Rockwell leads the league with 26 RBIs and has the second-most hits at 39. As the leadoff batter, Rockwell is hitting a team-high .490.
CATCH 'EM IF YOU CAN
Senior catcher Drew Merten has caught 23 baserunners stealing this season, the most in the Sun Belt conference. According to D1 Catching, Merten has the 19th-best caught stealing percentage in the Division I at .359.
On the offensive side, Merten carried a 13-game reached base streak before having it broke up at UT Arlington this past weekend.
SENIOR DAY
UALR will celebrate nine seniors when the Trojans take the field on Sunday against ULM. Cameron Allen, Dyllon Brownmiller, Stephen Chandler, Brandon Gil, Drew Merten, Tanner Rockwell, Petr Sila, Justin Steelmon and Sam Vogel will each play in their final Sun Belt game at Gary Hogan Field.
NEXT TIME OUT
UALR will host its final home game and non-conference game of the season on Tuesday night against rival Central Arkansas at 6 p.m.
