Baseball | 4/2/2019 7:42:00 PM
GOODWELL, Okla.— Baseball will head to Plainview, Texas this weekend for a three-game SAC match up against Wayland Baptist. The Aggies (17-15; 8-7) will take on the Pioneers (19-11; 8-4) over Friday and Saturday (Mar. 5-6).
The Aggies are coming off a Sooner Athletic setback to No. 12 USAO last weekend in Chickasha. The Drovers took the series victory, including a tough 3-2 Game 1 loss that extended into ten innings. Pitcher
Joseph Goetze held the No. 1 SAC-ranked hitting team to just two runs and four hits during his six innings pitched.
*AGGIES AT A GLANCE: OPSU is currently ranked No. 5 in the SAC across four categories: team batting average, (.309) runs scored, (212) RBI (176) and overall hits at 296, averaging 9.25 per game.
Several Aggies are ranked within the top ten across multiple categories overall on the season thus far. Outfielder
Payton Rhodes and first baseman
Jared Mayeda hold the eighth and tenth spots, respectively, for batting average, with Rhodes hitting .375 on the season and Mayeda holding a .364 average so far. Short stop
JJ Vaught comes in at No. 9 on the list for hits, accruing 41 hits over 31 games, with Mayeda just behind in the tenth spot, pulling in 40 hits over his 32 games played. 11 doubles have been good enough to earn Mayeda a six-spot and his 195 put-outs over 32 games has also earned him a No. 2 ranking as well, averaging 6.09 outs per contest. 32 RBI have gained catcher
Luis Rodriguez a No. 7 spot, as he averages 1.07 each outing.
Yesiel Vadlez has dealt out a commendable 61 strikeouts on the season so far, bringing him in at No. 6 on the strikeout rankings, and he holds a 3.55 ERA over a total 50 innings pitched. After Goetze issued out six strikeouts on the Drovers last weekend, he has bumped up his total to 51, and
Nicholas Virdo who has been getting into more Aggie action recently, averages a K per inning, totaling 23 on the season over his 23 innings pitched.
*SCOUTING THE PIONEERS: WBU's last series against Central Christian (Kan.) gave the Pioneers a Game 1 win 3-0 although Games 2 and 3 were cancelled due to inclement weather conditions. The Pioneer's prior SAC match yielded a series win as they took two victories over a three-game series against SAGU.
The Pioneers currently have three athletes batting over .350 and are ranked No. 4 in the SAC in team batting average, just .002 ahead of OPSU. WBU's Solomon currently owns a 5-1 with 42 strikeouts so far on the season.
FOLLOW THE ACTION: The Aggies will travel to Plainview for a Friday double header under the lights at Wilder Field (4 p.m./ 7 p.m.) and a single-nine on Saturday (12 p.m.). Live stats and streaming will be available on opsuaggies.com, or follow us on social media on Facebook @OPSUAggieAthletics or Twitter @OPSUAthletics for live updates and post-game news.
