SERIES PREVIEW: Dallas at Austin College (4/18 DH; 4/19)
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
THE LEAD
The University of Dallas baseball team (6-25, 2-13 SCAC) travels to Austin College (7-16, 5-7 SCAC) on April 18-19. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. and the series finale will be Sunday at 1 p.m., too.
It has been a tough stretch for the Crusaders, who have dropped the past 13. UD is 2-12 on the road and will be looking to end a string of three-straight away losses. Dallas will be attempting to play spoiler as Austin College sits in the running for the final fourth seed.
MOST RECENT SERIES
It was a difficult three-game set at Irving, Texas, last weekend as No. 22 at the time Trinity University swept the Crusaders. The final scores were 11-1 (seven inn.), 10-0 (seven inn.) and 5-0.
In the opener, the Tigers bolstered a double-digit attack with a six-run second inning sandwiched between a pair of one-run frames. TU's 8-0 advantage was more than enough as freshman Patch Healy (Plano, Texas) and sophomore JP Fasone (Englewood, Colo.) mustered the only hits for the Navy and White. The home team got their only run of the weekend in the fifth frame.
Sophomore Ryan Hammonds (Cedar Hill, Texas) battled through four innings and keeping his team in the game down only four. UD allowed at least a run to be scored in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, including a four-run sixth to open things out.
Senior Trevor Keele (Edgewood, Texas) recorded the only base knock to keep from being no hit. In the last game, Dallas countered with a team-high eight hits in the series. A grand slam in the fifth catapulted Trinity to a sweep as all four runs on that knock proved instrumental down the road.
KEY PLAYERS
Senior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) and Keele are the top hitters in the lineup throughout this campaign. The veteran tandem is batting .308 and .304, with Keele's total the top overall on the club.
Keele has racked up the most hits with 33, six of them for doubles, a triple, and two homers. The first baseman has driven in 47 baserunners for a team-most. Villanueva is tied with sophomore Alex Stack (Keller, Texas) in hits with 31 apiece. Villanueva holds the team-high 14 RBI.
Stack is batting .279 and has crossed the dish 17 times to tie Keele with a team-high. Healy is the other player in double figures for RBI with 12.
Senior Jake Pierce (Tucson, Ariz.) has reflected a .297 average and hit safely in three of his last four. The catcher has reached base safely in four-straight affairs.
Keele hasn't pitched in a couple weeks, but still sports a 1.12 ERA and holds three saves in seven appearances. Villanueva made two appearances on the bump this week. He has yet to allow a run in three innings, to match his total amount of strikeouts.
SCOUTING AUSTIN COLLEGE
The Roos' have won two-straight and are sitting in fifth place, one game behind Southwestern University, in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) standings. Austin College claimed the final two contests versus Schreiner University 5-4 and 10-1 last weekend. SU won 5-3 in the opener.
AC will be playing its second consecutive SCAC-series at home, where the Maroon and Gold are 4-8. The Roos' have prevailed in four of the past five league contests.
Offensively, Austin College is guided by James Arguello with 28 hits, Will Schommer with 26, and Gus Daniel with 25. Arguello is hitting .359, Schommer at .351, and Daniel at .309. Todd Takabuki inserts himself into the top trio with a .311 clip and 10 RBI to crack the double-digit trio in that category. Leading in run production are Daniel and Arguello with 15 and 12, respectively.
Daniel has eight doubles and one of the team's two homers. Josh Coughennower lifted the other out the yard this spring campaign for AC.
On the bump, Mychael Parish has logged a team-most 50 innings pitched with a 1-3 record and 2.70 ERA. Blaine Tew is 2-4 in 46.1 innings with a 4.08 ERA. Brett Moody finishes out the top three arms with 39 innings and a 1-1 mark to go with a 1.15 ERA. Tew and Parish are the leaders in fanning opponents with 31 and 30, respectively. The duo each have one complete game and Moody has matched that mark by himself.
HISTORY
Dating back to 2010, the programs have met several times as Dallas hold a 15-4 mark against the Roos'. UD currently holds an eight-game winning stretch dating back to the first affair in the 2013 campaign.
Last time the squads were at Sherman, Texas, was on Feb. 17, 2013 in a 9-2 triumph for the Crusaders. In the most recent action, the Navy and White polished a sweep off with a 10-6 final. Keele tripled and had a monster game with five RBI.
Villanueva added three hits and sophomore Avery Arnold (McKinney, Texas) rattled off a four-hit contest with two runs scored. Keele threw the final two innings scoreless and sophomore Eric Felchak (The Woodlands, Texas) worked a scoreless inning with a walk, hit, and two strikeouts.
NEXT OPPONENT
Dallas is home to host some non-conference games. A three-game series with Arlington Baptist College is on Apr. 24-25. The twinbill is set on Saturday, and would begin at 12 p.m. Senior Day is that afternoon and will be revealed then during a break in the game action.
SOCIAL MEDIA
UD Twitter: @UDallasSports
UD Baseball Twitter: @UDallasBaseball
Facebook: University of Dallas Athletics