FIRST PITCH
The Arkansas Tech baseball team remains on the road for its mid-week game and will play a non-conference game at Arkansas-Monticello.
The mid-week clash is slated to begin at 3 p.m. from Weevils Field in Monticello.
The Wonder Boys and Boll Weevils have met 164 times historically in a series that dates back to 1948. In terms of the all-time series record, Tech holds a 110-54 lead over UAM.
The two teams met four times last season with mid-week game at Tech and the three-game conference series at UAM. The season series was split 2-2 with Tech winning the mid-week game in early February and UAM taking 2-of-3 in the conference series in early April.
TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter this mid-week game on the road at Arkansas-Monticello with an overall record of 15-12. This past weekend, the Wonder Boys salvaged the final game in their weekend series at Northwestern Oklahoma, winning the finale, 8-0. In the two games prior, the Wonder Boys lost 3-2 in each game.
Entering play against Arkansas-Monticello, the Wonder Boys are hitting .256 as a team (212-for-829) with 157 runs scored, 41 doubles, four triples and 19 home runs.
Logan Schwenke currently leads the team in batting average at .370 (27-for-73). Schwenke has also been the top-power production bat in the lineup as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .726 thanks to six doubles, one triple and six home runs. His home run total leads the team, and he is also the team-leader in RBIs with 22. Six other Wonder Boys have driven in at least 10 runs.
Keaton Ranallo is second on the team in home runs at four while Markos Cabranes is right behind with three. Christian Olea and Brendyn Bard have two and Cole Dawson and Nick Jones account for the other homers thus far with one apiece.
In terms of other extra-base hits, Shane Poe leads the team in doubles with seven while the triples have come from four different players in Sawyer Duddleston, Grant Jones, Bard and Schwenke.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 4.17 and have struck out 242 batters in 224.1 innings of work.
John Gray, Emilano Mata, and Jack Rector made starts this past weekend against Northwestern 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 six games overall. Willis is 1-1 with a 5.21 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 19.0 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 12. He is 3-1 with two saves and has a 1.93 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings in relief with 26.1 to his credit. Shahan is second in strikeouts with 34, while the team-leader, John Gray has 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 543-393.
SCOUTING ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO
Arkansas-Monticello enters this mid-week non-conference game with Tech with a 14-10 overall record. This past weekend, the Boll Weevils won their conference series at home against Oklahoma Baptist, winning game one, 6-5 and the finale, 13-3 in eight innings.
Offensively, the Boll Weevils are hitting .282 as a team (215-for-763) with 155 runs scored, 48 doubles, two triples and 24 home runs.
Camden Tanner currently leads the team in batting average at .333 (24-for-72). Kirk Wolfe has provided the most power production thus far with a .524 slugging percentage thanks to four doubles and six home runs. Wolfe's six home runs lead the team as do his 25 RBIs. 11 other Boll Weevils have hit at least one home run this season with five others doing it multiple times.
On the mound, the Boll Weevils have a 4.64 team ERA and have struck out 214 batters in 192.0 innings of work.
Last weekend, the Boll Weevils used a weekend rotation of Connor Irvine, Maxim Mrakovic and Charles Peacock against Oklahoma Baptist and likely won't see action against Tech on Tuesday. The Boll Weevils have also had two other pitchers start games with James McCormick having started three games and Zach Boyer starting one.
In their most-recent mid-week game against Delta State, UAM started McCormick. McCormick is currently 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA and seven strikeouts in 9.1 innings.
In addition to those starters, the Boll Weevils have used seven other pitchers in relief roles. Nelson Mercado has made the most relief appearances with 10. He is 1-1 with five saves and has a 2.87 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 15.2 innings.
The Boll Weevils are led by John Harvey, who is in his 14th season as head coach at Arkansas-Monticello and his 20th overall. In his time at UAM, Harvey is 355-267 and is 509-415 overall.
