Crusaders play rescheduled games couple days sooner at Howard Payne.
Crusaders play rescheduled games couple days sooner at Howard Payne.

PREVIEW: Baseball at Howard Payne University (DH) (2/15)

HOW TO FOLLOW

Multimedia Coverage: Livestats/Audio/Video

UD Twitter: @UDallasSports

UD Facebook: University of Dallas Athletics

UD Instagram: udallasathletics


FIRST PITCH

The University of Dallas baseball team has a quick turnaround this week after poor weather predicted over the weekend caused a doubleheader at Howard Payne University to be rescheduled for Thursday, February 15th. Both contests are set for seven innings, with game one at 1 p.m.

Dallas (3-3) bounced back after being swept two weeks ago at Sul Ross State University to earn a three-game sweep versus Mississippi University for Women. The Crusaders played well at home scoring double-digits the first two wins, and then rallied to a 6-5 walk-off in game two on Saturday.   


THREE THINGS TO KNOW FOR UD

- Josh Abalos (Lewisville, Texas) - SCAC Hitter of the Week - leads the team with 13 hits and is batting .650 on the campaign. Nathan Patton (McKinney, Texas) is the other hitter in double figures with 10.

- Jordan Stickler (Grand Rapids, Mich.) has reached base 11 times via a walk on the year, and did so eight times the most recent series.

- The top three hitters in the batting order (Stickler, Abalos, and Patton) are atop the team in runs scored with nine, eight, and seven, respectively. Enrique Vigil (San Antonio, Texas) has been hitting ninth, but also has scored seven times to help turn the lineup over.


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- SCAC Player of the Week Interview with Josh Abalos and Nick Goehring


BY THE NUMBERS

- UD Season Stats

- Howard Payne Season Stats

- All-time Series: Dallas is 14-19

- A year ago in Irving, the Crusaders dropped the three-game series (W, 6-2 (7 inn.)), (W, 8-4), (L, 13-10)

- These teams last played in Brownwood in 2015. It was also a 7-inning twinbill, with Howard Payne winning 6-2 and 8-4.


SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS

- Howard Payne defeated another SCAC opponent, Schreiner University, last Wednesday at home. The scores were 8-1 (7 innings) and 3-0. Those are the only games during this young season.

- Jacob Salazar leads the team with three hits. Joshua Gerig has scored three runs, while Salazar and JW Ledbetter have scored twice.

- Five of the team's 16 hits have been for extra bases.

- Six pitchers have combined to allow one unearned run on seven hits, while striking out 12. The staff has allowed seven walks. Seth Owen and Preston Newman had the starts.

- Howard Payne went 18-22 overall and 10-14 in the American Southwest Conference (ASC) in 2017.


UP NEXT

Dallas concludes the month with three games at the Millsaps Tournament from Feb. 23rd-25th. The Crusaders participated in this weekend event a year ago. They will face Concordia University Chicago, Washington University (MO), and Millsaps College.