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Contributed by Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
NATCHITOCHES, La. - The ACU Wildcats close out Southland Conference play this weekend when they take on Northwestern State in a three-game set at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Wildcats enter the series at 16-32 overall and 8-19 in the league, while the Demons are 30-22 and 17-10. The three-game series will get started Thursday at 2 p.m., followed by Friday's 6:30 p.m. The series will wrap up with Saturday's 2 p.m. game.
ACU's season will end next week with a two-game set against the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson, Ariz. (May 24-25), while the Demons will continue into the Southland Conference Post-Season Tournament (May 25-28 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
The Demons have won their past seven Southland games and have won 11 of 15 overall. Northwestern State enters the weekend in a third-place tie with Lamar, but the Demons hold the tiebreaker by virtue of their series win against the Cardinals in March.
The Wildcats are led offensively by junior third baseman Russell Crippen, who is hitting .313 to go along with a team-high in home runs (three) and RBI (18). Junior outfielder Braxton Wilks is tied for the team lead with 18 RBI.
Freshman outfielder Hunter Markwardt is tied for third in the Southland with 19 stolen bases.
The Wildcats will send junior RHP Garrett deMeyere (4-7, 3.32 ERA) to the mound Thursday, followed by senior LHP Aaron Mason (6-5, 2.62 ERA) on Friday and senior RHP Nate Cole (1-5, 4.88 ERA) on Saturday.
The Demons are hitting just .263 as a team and are led by Cort Brinson, who is hitting .303 with one home run and a team-best 35 RBI. David Fry has a team-best seven home runs with 24 RBI to go along with a .285 batting average.
Northwestern State will start RHP Adam Oller (7-0, 1.40 ERA) on Thursday, followed by LHP Chase Hymel (5-5, 2.80 ERA) on Friday and RHP Evan Tidwell (5-3, 2.97 ERA) on Saturday.
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