FIRST PITCH
The Arkansas Tech baseball team will take a brief step away from Great American Conference play for a mid-week game on the road at Union University.
The game is slated to begin at 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
The Wonder Boys and Bulldogs have met seven historically in a series that dates back to 1999. In terms of the all-time series record, Tech holds a 6-1 lead over Union.
The two teams met twice last season with a home-and-home mid-week series. The Wonder Boys won both games, winning 12-2 at home in late February and then winning 13-0 at Union in late April.
TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter this mid-week game on the road at Union with an overall record of 19-12 and are riding a five-game winning streak. This past weekend, the Wonder Boys swept their series at home against Southwestern Oklahoma, winning 7-1, 4-2 and 9-3.
Entering play against Union, the Wonder Boys are hitting .269 as a team (259-for-964) with 186 runs scored, 58 doubles, five triples and 22 home runs.
Logan Schwenke currently leads the team in batting average at .368 (32-for-87). Schwenke has also been the top-power production bat in the lineup as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .724 thanks to eight doubles, one triple and seven home runs. His home run total leads the team, and he is also the team-leader in runs scored with 26. Seven other Wonder Boys have driven in at least 10 runs and two others have at least 20 driven in.
Keaton Ranallo is second on the team in home runs at four and he leads in RBIs with 26. Markos Cabranes and Brendyn Bard are right behind in home runs with three. Christian Olea has two while Cole Dawson, Nick Jones and Grant Jones account for the other homers thus far with one apiece.
In terms of other extra-base hits, Olea and Ranallo are tied for the team-lead in doubles with nine while the triples have come from five different players in Sawyer Duddleston, G. Jones, N. Jones, Bard and Schwenke.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 4.08 and have struck out 271 batters in 258.1 innings of work.
John Gray, Emilano Mata, and Jack Rector made starts this past weekend against Southwestern Oklahoma and likely won't see action at UAM. A candidate to start one of the mid-week games is Mason Willis. He already has three mid-week starts to his credit and has appeared in eight games overall. Willis is 1-1 with a 4.43 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 22.1 innings of work.
Aside from those that have made starts, 12 other pitchers have taken the mound for the Wonder Boys in relief roles. Will Horton has the most relief appearances thus far with 14. He is 3-1 with two saves and has a 2.18 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 20.2 innings. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings amongst prominent relievers with 33.1 to his credit. Shahan is second on the team in strikeouts with 39.
Leading the Wonder Boys once more is Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history, Dawson enters his 15th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 14 seasons, Dawson has guided amassed a 414-298 record. He has also had seven seasons with 30 or more wins which includes the 2014 season in which he led the team a program-record 44 wins and hosting rights for that year's Central Region Tournament.
Overall, Dawson is in his 19th year as a head baseball coach at the collegiate level as he spent four years as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan and totaled 118 wins. His combined win total at Tech and Kansas Wesleyan have him with a career record of 549-394.
SCOUTING UNION
Union enters this mid-week game with Tech with a 12-17 overall record. This past weekend, the Bulldogs were swept in their three-game series on the road at Auburn Montgomery.
Offensively, the Bulldogs are hitting .282 as a team (261-for-925) with 261 runs scored, 37 doubles, five triples and 18 home runs.
Carson Chavies currently leads the team in batting average at .375 (33-for-82). Grant Ross has provided the most power production thus far with a .549 slugging percentage thanks to three doubles and six home runs. Ross's six home runs lead the team as do his 34 RBIs.
On the mound, the Bulldogs have a 7.13 team ERA and have struck out 167 batters in 237.1 innings of work.
Last weekend, the Bulldogs used a weekend rotation of Sam Poindexter, Eli Snelson and Noah Toney against Auburn Montgomery and may see action against Tech on Tuesday as the Bulldogs do not have any games scheduled this weekend. The Bulldogs have also had four other pitchers start games.
In their most-recent mid-week game against Mississippi College, Union started Scotty Wyatt. Wyatt is currently 0-1 with a 7.62 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 13.0 innings.
In addition to those starters, the Bulldogs have used nine other pitchers in relief roles. Ryan Evans and Ethan Orwig have made the most relief appearances with 12 apiece. Evans is 2-1 with a save and a 4.63 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 23.1 innings. Orwig is 2-2 and has a 15.95 ERA with nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings.
The Bulldogs are led by Casey McGehee, who is in his second season as head coach at Union. In his time at Union, McGehee is 26-48.
