Carrollton, GA - The University of West Georgia has an exciting weekend ahead of them as they take on the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. The weekend series begins with a bang on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 2:00 p.m. and the second followed shortly after. The final game will be played Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
UAH at a Glance
The official NCAA Division II rankings currently have the team listed as #11 in the Division II, while D2Baseballnews has them ranked in the top ten at the #7 position. The Chargers, who are coached by Hunter Royer, have a 29-8-1 record this season and are 12-2-1 in the conference. The tie was due to a rain cancellation between them and Delta State in which they were tied 1-1 in the seventh inning. UAH is a very dangerous team, but they are 7-5 on the road coming into the weekend series against UWG.
UWG at a Glance
The University of West Georgia continues to keep their record above .500 on the year. They are coming off a frustrating loss to Young Harris this past Tuesday in which they lost a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the eight to lose 6-5. The good news is that #
Max Aeschlimann# returned in the game after being out for some time with an injury. The pitching staff has been a bit banged up and is eager to see him back on the mound pitching at a high level. The Wolves are an impressive 15-6 at home and are currently 20-18 on the year and 9-8 in conference.
UAH Batters to Watch
The Chargers are hitting a solid .346 on the year and have a .480 team slugging percentage. Wolves pitching need to be on the lookout for Chandler Brock. Brock has played in 32 of the 38 games and leads the team in runs scored with 37 and with RBI (38). Another key guy at the plate is Vincent Kortbawi. Kortbawi has played in every game this year and has a .373 average. He also has 17 extra base hits with eleven of those being doubles and four home runs. The team is dangerous on the base paths with 89 stolen bases out of 96 attempts; a 93% success rate.
UWG Batters to Watch
The Wolves have three players batting over .300 this season: #
Shaquille Jackson#, #
Blake McLemore#, and #
TJ Eifert#. McLemore has been impressive this season nearly getting on base every other at bat with a .459 on base percentage. He has also shown his diversity in the field playing a little bit of shortstop as of late for the team. Jackson continues to swing the bat well and is 12-15 in stolen base attempts this season. Eifert has also been swinging a hot bat, getting his batting average up above .300 again. Eifert has eleven doubles on the year and has driven in 22 runners.
UAH Pitchers to Watch
The Chargers pitching has also been stout with a 3.37 team ERA. The Wolves will face two extremely tough starting pitchers this weekend who are both 5-1 on the year. One of those pitchers is Andrew Busby who has a 1.72 ERA this year. Busby has dominant on the hill with three complete games and a 58-18 strikeout to walk ratio. He had his best start two games ago against West Florida where he only allowed six hits through nine innings and recorded twelve strikeouts. The Chargers other dominant starter is Alex Aultman who has a 3.58 ERA. Opponents are only batting .245 against him this year through 188 at bats. Aultman does not necessarily have to strike opponents out on the mound, rather he hits his spots getting teams to ground or fly out.
UWG Pitchers to Watch
UWG pitching has also been preforming well this year with a team 4.32 ERA and an impressive 238-to-99 strikeout to walk ratio. UAH already knows about righty #
Jamie Sexton# on the mound and should prepare for a pitcher's duel that game. Sexton is 7-2 this year and has gone the distance six times this season. He has an outstanding 62 strikeouts to just 12 walks this year on the mound. Arguably, Sexton's best game came against Paine College on February 24. In the game, Sexton pitched the complete nine innings only surrendering three hits and striking out ten batters. The Chargers will also likely see #
Randall Wright# starting on the mound. Wright is 3-4 this year with five starts and has an ERA just above five. Wright also shows good command of his pitches with a 28-to-6 strikeout to walk ratio.
Previous Matchup
Last year the Wolves played UAH on the road and got swept in all three games. Head Coach
Skip Fite and the Wolves as they look to return the favor this year at home in Cole Field.
Follow all the weekend action through
live stats and on Twitter at
