Carrollton, GA – Heading into the third Gulf South Conference weekend of the season, the UWG baseball squad sits atop the Gulf South Conference standings with a conference record of 5-1 and an overall record of 13-7.
This means that the Wolves are placed above the previously top-ranked team in the nation, West Florida, the current number three team in the nation, Delta State, and current number five team in the nation, North Alabama.
But UWG has its biggest challenge of the season looming this weekend, hosting a three-game conference tilt with the 5th-ranked Lions.
West Georgia is currently hitting .308 as a team. This is good enough to put them towards the top of the GSC only behind Delta State. This high average is in large part due to four current Wolves who are hitting over .300.
#
Stuart Drew#, #
Evan Hester#, and #
Galen Smith# are all in the top-15 in the Gulf South Conference in batting, but if you add in third baseman #
Garrett May#, West Georgia has four hitters in the top-25 in the conference.
May is tied for the league lead in home runs with five and Drew is fourth in the GSC in runs scored with 21. Hester tops the conference in doubles with nine and May leads the league in RBI with 23.
Wolves' pitching has done very well so far a month into the season. The staff holds a 3.82 ERA with three complete games and two shutouts. UWG has two of the top five pitchers in the GSC as of right now. #
Cody Skinner# and #Max Aeschilmann# each have ERA's under two with Skinner's at 1.45 and Aeschilmann at a 1.99. #
Seth McClure# isn't far behind with an even 3.00 ERA.
UNA comes into the weekend with a 19-6 record overall and a 4-2 record in GSC play. The Lions are coming off of a huge weekend in Pensacola, Fla., where UNA took 2-of-3 from the top-ranked West Florida Argonauts. That series jumped North Alabama from 29th in the nation to fifth.
The Lions have three starting pitchers with an ERA of right around 3.00 on the season, but UNA has two relief pitchers that have an ERA of less than 1.50. Ben Seabrook has an ERA of 1.42, has 13 appearances and six saves. Brantley Claunch has 15 appearances with a 1.04 ERA, 3-0 record and one save.
At the plate, the Lions are hitting .287 as a team this season and are also led by four different players hitting about .300. Michael Schmidt is the top cat in that mix, checking in with a .354 average on the season.
The three-game series between the Wolves and Lions begins on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader, followed on Sunday by a single game that also begins at 1 p.m.
