NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team makes it final roadtrip of the regular-season beginning Friday when it faces Southland Conference rival Stephen F. Austin in a key three-game series at Jaycees Field.

First pitch for Friday's opener is scheduled for 3 p.m. The series will resume on Saturday at 2 p.m. followed by the series' finale on Sunday at 1. All three games can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.

Needing two wins to tie the single-season school record for most victories, Southeastern (36-14, 18-9 Southland) looks to keep track with Southland Conference leader Texas State in the league standings. The Lions enter the series one-half game behind SFA (32-14, 18-8 Southland) in the league standings with six games remaining.

Winners of seven of its last nine games, Southeastern slipped past UT Arlington and Northwestern State in the league standings after earning a three-game sweep of Sam Houston State last weekend. The Lions, who close out the regular-season at home next week against Northwestern State, are hitting .295 as a team while ranking second in the Southland Conference with a 4.09 team earned run average.

Cody Gougler leads Southeastern in hitting with a .341 average followed by Jeff Harkensee (.322-5-36), the Southland Conference leader with 21 doubles. Chris Ernest (.333-1-13), Justin Boudreaux (.316-10-55) and Cass Hargis (.315-1-40) are next in hitting for the Lions, who led the Southland Conference in on-base percentage (.408), runs scored (390), walks (234), hit-by-pitches (97) and sacrifice hits (52).

Junior right-hander Tyler Watkins (4-3, 4.17 ERA) will start in Friday's opener for Southeastern with the starters for the remaining two games to be announced.

SFA enters the series with a chance at making history, needing two wins to equal the school record (34) set in 1984. The Lumberjacks lead the league with a .330 batting average with Garrett Smith (.360-3-27) leading the team. Bobby Loveless (.353-8-46), Tanner Hines (.349-0-23), Darren Crabtree (.340-8-43), Michael Haynes (.335-4-33) and Ryan Priest (.335-8-40) are next in an explosive offense that has been one of the best in the Southland Conference all season.

Junior left-hander Tyler Herriage (7-2, 2.40 ERA), who has a season-high 18.1-inning scoreless streak, will start in Friday's opener for SFA with Brad Oates (2-1, 3.07 ERA) slated to pitch Saturday and Justin Braddock (5-3, 5.06 ERA) on Sunday.

Southeastern has won seven of the 12 meetings between the schools since SFA re-instated its program in 2006. The Lions have claimed the two series played in Nacogdoches (2006 and 2008), taking two of three games in each. Southeastern rallied to claim last year's series in Hammond, taking the final two games by scores of 11-10 and 12-5.