No. 6 UAH (9-1-1, 5-1-1 GSC) vs. Shorter (7-4, 5-1 GSC)
Saturday, March 7 | 6 p.m. | LIVE STATSSunday, March 8 | 1 p.m. (DH) | LIVE STATSSCHEDULE CHANGE: Due to the inclement weather in the Tennessee Valley, UAH has decided to delay the first pitch on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and to play a single game. The doubleheader will now be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.
RECENT ACTION: The squad travelled to Clinton, Mississippi to take on Mississippi College this past weekend, where UAH returned with a doubleheader sweep by scores of 15-9 and 9-6. The Chargers batted .362 (25-for-69) with four homers, five doubles, 18 walks and six stolen bases in the two-game series.
POLLING PLACE: UAH is now ranked in the top 10 of three national rankings, following the doubleheader sweep of MC. The Chargers' highest ranking came in at No. 6 in both the Perfect Game and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls, while being rated at No. 9 by D2Baseball.com and No. 11 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Chargers are the highest ranked program from the Gulf South Conference in each poll.
ACCOLADES ROLL IN:
Brandon Lawing was tremendous at the plate in Saturday's doubleheader sweep of the Choctaws, as the senior batted .625 (5-for-8) with two home runs, two doubles and seven RBI. His performance led to him to the GSC Player of the Week award and earned the South Region's Player of the Week honor as well.
REGIONAL UPDATE: The Chargers remained at No. 2 in the South Region, trailing behind the Sunshine State Conference's Tampa who is ranked No. 1 across all four national polls. UAH is followed in the top five in the region by Saint Leo (16-1), Florida Tech (14-0) and Nova Southeastern (12-3).
REACHING BASE: UAH had a team on-base percentage of .473 in the two-game series against the Choctaws, raising the team's season mark to .419. The Chargers' OBP ranks second in the GSC and 31st in the NCAA. Senior lead-off hitter
Cody Burton paces the offense with a conference-high .647 on-base percentage and 14 walks. Burton's walk total is 11th in the country, while his OBP ranks ninth nationally.
LONG BALL: The Blue and White have registered a total of 15 home runs this season, led by
Chandler Brock and
Colton Simbeck who are tied with a team-high three homers. UAH ranks 13th nationally in total round trippers, while rating 11th with 1.36 home runs per game. A total of eight Chargers have connected on long balls so far this year.
ON THE BUMP: Fifth-year head coach
Hunter Royer's weekend rotation boasts a pair of starters with sub-2.90 ERAs in
Daniel Koger (2.81 ERA) and
Chris Kilpatrick (2.37 ERA). Senior lefty
Tyler Howell (7.37 ERA) was a preseason All-GSC selection but hasn't seen action since Feb. 14 against West Georgia.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Chargers have a total of four road games in the coming week, beginning with a midweek contest at Montevallo on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and ending with a trip to Pensacola, Florida to take on GSC opponent West Florida in a three-game weekend series.
MATCHUP HISTORY: UAH holds an all-time series record of 4-2 against Shorter, after sweeping the Hawks in Rome, Georgia last season by scores of 9-5, 10-0 and 9-4. UAH batted .323 (34-105) against Shorter during the series sweep.
HAWKS PROFILE: Shorter enters the weekend series with a 7-4 overall record and 5-1 in the GSC, following a series sweep of Union this past weekend. The Hawks bat a collective .324, led by six regulars with .300-plus batting averages. Bryan Mathews leads the offense with a .378 batting average (17-for-45) with a team-high three homers, 13 runs scored and 16 RBI. Shorter's pitching staff has accumulated a 4.45 ERA so far this season, with each starting pitcher sporting ERA's of 4.00 or higher.
