- Current LSC Standings

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ABILENE – The Tarleton Texans will travel to Abilene this weekend to face the conference-leading Abilene Christian Wildcats at Scott Crutcher Field on the ACU campus this Friday and Saturday, April 23-24.  

This will be a very important series for the Texans, who head into the weekend currently holding onto the sixth and final spot into next weekend's Lone Star Conference Championships in Abilene. Tarleton currently sits at 22-22 overall and 18-18 in the LSC, one game ahead of Eastern New Mexico (19-21) and three and a half games back of Texas A&M-Kingsville (21-17) who currently reside at fifth in the standings.

Also in the mix for the final spot this weekend is West Texas A&M (14-17) and Northeastern State (18-22). NSU swept the Greyhounds last weekend in Tahlequah, Okla., and still have a shot at getting the final spot.

Many scenarios exist going into the weekend, but things should me much clearer following Friday's games. Other games of interest for the Texans this weekend include, ENMU heading to Canyon to face WT and TAMUK traveling to San Angelo to visit Angelo State. NSU will host Central Oklahoma this weekend.

The Texans will have to, at the very least, win the same amount of games as ENMU this weekend to get into the final playoff spot. If the Texans should split its series with ACU and ENMU goes 3-1 on the weekend, the Greyhounds would win the tiebreaker with a 3-1 series win over the Texans back in late February.

In order for WT to jump the Texans for the spot, the Buffaloes would have to sweep ENMU and Tarleton would have to earn a split or worse with ACU. NSU could take the sixth spot over the Texans with a sweep of UCO and Tarleton again, earning a split or worse.

Tarleton could jump into the fifth spot with a 3-1 series win over ACU and the Javelinas going 1-3 or worse at ASU.

The Texans would have to go better than 1-3 against ACU in order own the tiebreaker over TAMUK and WT. Along with ENMU, NSU too owns the tiebreaker over the Texans with a series win over Tarleton earlier this season.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 9 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 8 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, lead the all-time series with a record of 49-37 against the Texans. The two teams split the season series in Stephenville last season. Tarleton then fell to the Wildcats 5-4 in the third round of the LSC Championships last season.

Junior second baseman, Junnior Dishmey, heads into the final weekend of games leading the Texans at the plate. He has 46 hits in 96 plate appearances for a .479 batting average. He has 12 doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs to go with 27 runs batted in (RBI) and 31 runs scored.

Junior first baseman, Zane Hensley, is second on the team with a .400 batting average. He leads the team with 58 hits. Chris Casazza (.362) leads the team and the LSC with 12 home runs. He also tops the squad with 41 runs scored, 46 RBI and 106 total bases. Mark Jeffery leads the team with 14 doubles, while Andy Wolfe leads the Texans on the base paths with 13 stolen bases.

Nathan Lewis leads the pitching staff with a 2.23 earned run average in 23 mound appearances. His six saves leads the team as well. Ryan Salt leads the team with 33 strike outs, but Brandon Van Riper is right behind him with 32 K's. Jake Sowell leads the team with five wins.

ACU (41-10, 27-8 LSC) are led at the plate by Cameron Bankston who enters play with a .434 average. Will Calhoun follows batting .414 and Aaron Oliver comes in third on the team hitting .401 on the season. Oliver leads the team with 18 doubles and four triples, while Calhoun tops the squad with nine long bombs this year.

Chay Lytle is tops on the mound with a 1.48 ERA in 19 appearances. Josh Crockett follows wit h an ERA of 2.18 in 23 mound visits. ACU has a pair of perfect pitchers heading into the weekend as Zach Sneed comes in at 8-0 and Aaron Lambrix follows at 7-0.

First pitch of game one on Friday is set for 3 p.m. Game one on Saturday is set to begin at 3 p.m. as well.