GAME INFORMATION
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ARKANSAS TECH
WONDER BOYS
17-15 |
MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
CHOCTAWS
22-12 |
Tuesday, April 1 | 3 p.m.
Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark.
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
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FIRST PITCH
The Arkansas Tech baseball team is back at home for a four-game stretch this week starting first with a mid-week non-conference game against Mississippi College.
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The single game is slated to start at 3 p.m. on Wednesday from Baswell Field.
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The Wonder Boys and Choctaws have met eight times historically in a series that dates back to 1996. In terms of the all-time series record, the series is tied at four-all.
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This will be the second time that the two teams have played this season as they met in the final game of opening weekend at the Houston Classic at Daikin Park back in early February. Mississippi College would rally to score seven runs in the top of the ninth to come from behind and beat Tech 13-10.
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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter their game against Mississippi College with a 17-15 overall record. Most-recently, Tech had their nine-game winning streak snapped in the series finale at Ouachita Baptist this past Sunday.
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Entering play, the Wonder Boys are hitting .280 as a team (287-for-1,025) with 238 runs scored, 49 doubles, nine triples and 19 home runs.
Cole Dawson currently leads the team in batting average at .381 (43-for-113) and leads the team in runs scored at 35. He is one of six players with at least 20 runs scored.
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Simon Murray has the highest slugging percentage on the team at .532 thanks to a double and a team-high five home runs.
Murray is one of six players on the team with at least 20 RBIs and is tied with
Sawyer Duddleston for the team lead in RBIs with 27.
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On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 7.05 and have struck out 223 batters in 260.1 innings of work.
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John Gray,
Daniel Hutchison and
Emiliano Mata made starts over the past weekend in the games played against Ouachita Baptist and likely will not see action in either mid-week game.
Ashton Greenlee and two-way player
Simon Murray have combined to make the last four mid-week starts.
Murray has started the last two.
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Eleven relievers have made multiple appearances with
Austin Mittlestedt and
JT Cafferty having the most with 11.
Mittlestedt is currently 2-1 with a 6.55 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 11.0 innings.
Cafferty is 1-0 with three saves and a 2.63 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 13.2 innings.
Turner Seelinger is next in relief appearances with 10.
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Leading the Wonder Boys once more is
Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history,
Dawson enters his 16th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 15 seasons,
Dawson has guided amassed a 450-311 record. He has also had eight 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.
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Overall,
Dawson is in his 20th 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 585-417.
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SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
Mississippi College enters the game at Tech with a 22-12 overall record. The Choctaws are coming off a weekend series on the road where they were swept by Valdosta State. Prior to that, they had won five-straight.
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Offensively, the Choctaws are hitting .288 as a team (309-for-1,074) with 249 runs scored, 58 doubles, five triples and 42 home runs.
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Korey Cooper leads the team in batting average at .389 (49-for-126).
Bryce LaRocca leads the team in slugging at .667 thanks to 10 doubles, a triple and 10 home runs. He also leads the team in RBIs with 40 and is one of six Choctaws that have driven in at least 20 runs.
Jordan Evans leads the club in runs scored with 42 and is one of six Choctaws with at least 20 runs scored.
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On the mound, the Choctaws have a 4.91 team ERA and have struck out 250 batters in 273.0 innings of work.
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This past weekend, the Choctaws had a starting rotation of
Holland Townes,
Caleb Peterson and
Blake Gollot and are unlikely to see action against Tech. All three have been exclusively used in the rotation and have made at least nine starts.
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The Choctaws have used two other pitchers in starting roles this season with
Jimmy Wilson making three and
Taylor Ballad making two.
Wilson made the most-recent mid-week start and pitched 2.0 innings against William Carey this past Tuesday.
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The Choctaws are led by
Jeremy Haworth, who is in his 10
th season as head coach at Mississippi College and his 14
th overall. In his time at MC,
Haworth is 200-225 and is 302-320-1 overall.
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