SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team opens Southland Conference play on Friday when it faces UTSA in a three-game series at Roadrunner Field.
First pitch for Friday's opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday's contest is slated for a 2 p.m. start with Sunday's finale scheduled for 1 p.m. All three games can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern (9-4), picked to finish second in the Southland Conference, has won three of its last four games that included a 7-5 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in its last game on Wednesday.
The Lions enter the weekend against UTSA (6-9) with a .297 batting average while averaging 7.2 runs per game and leading the league with 10 home runs. The Southeastern pitching staff has posted the third-lowest earned run average (2.87) in the league while holding opponents to a .238 average at the plate.
Jeff Harkensee (.400-5-21) leads the Southland Conference in both home runs and RBI and is eighth in the league in hitting.
Jonathan Pace (.380-1-9) has hit safely in his last 10 games, matching Harkensee's season-high, while
Justin Boudreaux (.375-3-15),
Brock Hebert (.356-1-5),
Cass Hargis (.333-0-10) and
Cody Gougler (.318-0-6) are next in hitting.
Southeastern will send
Brandon Efferson (2-0, 3.78 ERA) to the mound in Friday's opener before right-hander
Joseph Koon (2-1, 5.17 ERA) will start on Saturday and
Tyler Watkins (2-0, 1.64 ERA) will start on Sunday.
UTSA dropped three of four games last weekend at New Mexico before suffering an 8-5 loss in 11 innings at No. 5 Texas on Tuesday.
Daniel Rockett (.345-1-11) and Jake Wood (.345-1-12) each lead the Roadrunners at the plate with Matthew James (.340-0-5), Riley Good (.323-1-7), Ryan Dalton (.317-2-13), Casey Selsor (.313-0-6) and Tyler Carpenter (.306-1-13) following. As a team, UTSA is hitting .300 and averaging 6.2 runs per game.
Taylor Walton (2-1, 5.29 ERA) will start in Friday's opener for UTSA with Selsor (0-2, 4.70 ERA), a southpaw, slated to pitch on Saturday and Jordan Langley (1-1, 4.50 ERA) set for Sunday.
