CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The final series of the regular season arrives on the Island as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball hosts Abilene Christian to close the year.
The series begins Thursday night with a 6 p.m. first pitch. The Islanders and Wildcats will continue their clash at 6 p.m. Friday before the Blue and Green celebrates Senior Day on Saturday in a 1 p.m. start.
Senior
Devin Skapura will take the ball in the series opener for the Islanders. The right-hander is 3-4 on the season with a 5.05 ERA, but is 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA in his past three outings.
Beyond Thursday, the Islanders will hold off on naming a starter for the Friday and Saturday contests.
ON A ROLL
The Islanders enter the final weekend of the regular season after winning each of their last two series on the road. Corpus Christi took two of three at Southland leader McNeese before winning the series over UIW in San Antonio last week.
In those four wins, the Islanders have scored 30 runs while hitting .290 at the plate. On the mound, the Blue and Green holds a 3.89 ERA in the four wins over the past two weekends.
Dalton Stark and
Jackson Owens have led the charge at the plate, each hitting better than .400 over the last two weeks. Stark leads the club at .435 in that stretch with seven RBI. The outfielder has also slugged .826 with a double, triple and pair of home runs.
Owens leads the RBI category, driving in eight runs over the last two series. The third baseman is hitting .423 with 11 hits including two doubles, two triples and a homer.
SCOUTING ACU
The Wildcats enter the weekend at 13-36 on the season and 3-24 in the Southland. Russell Crippen leads all Abilene Christian hitters with a .380 average on the season. The slugger has 10 home runs on the season and another 21 doubles to drive in 29 runs.
Luis Trevino joins Crippen at the top of the stat sheet, hitting .365 with a team-best 41 RBI on the season.
On the mound, the Wildcats have struggled, posting a 6.97 ERA on the season. Austin Lambright occupies the opening night spot and holds a 5.14 ERA in 11 starts. Drew Hanson was the second starter for the Wildcats last weekend and owns a 3-4 mark with a 5.59 ERA. Derek Scott earned the start in the finale last week and is 2-2 on the season with a 3.49 ERA.
SENIOR DAY
The Islanders will honor eight seniors in the final home game of the year. Senior Day festivities will take place prior to first pitch at Saturday's series finale.
