A-STATE/NORTHWESTERN STATE SERIES HISTORY

• A-State trails the all-time series with Northwestern State by a count of 5-2 with all seven

meetings occurring from 2000-2004. The first meeting happened in 2000 when the Red Wolves and Demons played a single contest as part of the Rice Tournament with Northwestern State winning by a score of 10-3. The Demons made the trip to Jonesboro for a three-game series in 2003 during the third week of the season and won the first two contests by scores of 8-0 and 6-2 before A-State salvaged game three with a 3-2 win. The Red Wolves made the return trip to Natchitoches, La., the following season and opened the 2004 campaign with a three-game series there. Once again, the Demons won the first two games by scores of 13-8 and 8-2 before the Red Wolves earned a 9-5 victory in the series finale.

• Arkansas State and Northwestern State were scheduled to play last season on Feb. 21. A-State was going to play Creighton at 2 p.m. in Natchitoches before taking on the Demons at 6 p.m. in a doubleheader. However, with the forecast not looking promising, A-State opted to travel to Emerson, Ga., Feb. 20-21 to play No. 7 Louisville and won two-of-three against the Cardinals.

• A-State head coach Tommy Raffo has never faced Northwestern State in his career.

• Northwestern State enters the weekend with a 25-18 record and 14-10 mark in the Southland Conference that puts them in fourth in the league. The Demons didn't play a midweek game like the Red Wolves and are currently riding a six-game winning streak. The team swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by scores of 4-3 (10 innings), 4-2, and 6-5 April 29-May 1 in their last action.

NOTES FROM APPALACHIAN STATE SERIES

• The Red Wolves lost two-of-three games at Appalachian State April 29-30. The two teams had to play a Friday doubleheader and moved Saturday's game time up two hours to avoid rain that was forecasted to hit the area. A-State won game one Friday 9-7, but dropped game two by a count of 9-2. A-State was two outs from winning game three, but a three-run, walk-off homer gave the Apps a 6-4 win in the series finale. The Red Wolves are now 3-3 all-time against Appalachian State.

• Game one began with a bang for the Red Wolves as Joe Schrimpf lined a pitch just over the left-field fence for a solo home run in the top of the first inning against the Mountaineers. The round-tripper for Schrimpf tied him for the team-lead in home runs with Tanner Ring at six, but Ring hit a two-run, monster shot two batters later to retake the lead at seven. It's the first time this season the Red Wolves have hit more than one home run in the same inning.

• The Red Wolves ran their win streak up to six games with the 9-7 win in game one against App State. That win streak is tied for the longest in the Tommy Raffo era with a stint in 2014. A-State has not won seven or more games in a row since an eight-game streak during the 2000 season.

• Junior pitcher Tyler Zuber came in and earned the win in relief in the first game Friday with 7.1 innings pitched and a career-high 133 pitches. He improved to 4-3 on the year with the victory. The White Hall, Ark., native allowed nine hits, but only one run and struck out seven, while walking three.

• Joe Schrimpf extended his hit streak to 10 games with hits in all three games. The junior from St. Louis, Mo., hit .364 in the series with a team-high three RBIs.

• Tanner Ring led the offense with a .462 average in the three games and had three extra-base hits with two doubles and a homer. He also stole a base and scored three runs.

NOTES FROM UAPB GAME

• A-State improved to 10-1 over the Golden Lions all time with an 8-3 win in seven innings

Tuesday night. The game was called in the bottom of the seventh with two outs when lightning struck close enough to cause a delay. Both teams agreed to end the game.

• Peyton Culbertson earned the win to improve to 3-0 on the year after throwing a seven-inning complete game and allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. It was Culbertson's first complete game of his career and the team's second of the season after Cody Jackson tossed one on Friday.

• Arkansas-Pine Bluff scored two runs in the top of the second before A-State countered with one run in the bottom half to make the score 2-1. A-State took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with two runs, but the Golden Lions quickly responded with a run in the top of the sixth to tie the game 3-3. A-State scored four in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach and added another in the seventh before the game was called for an 8-3 win.

• The Red Wolves got two hits apiece from Tanner Ring, Jeremy Brown, Daltan Lovell, and Tony Ortiz. It was Lovell's first multi-hit game of the season and the second of his career. Brown drove in three runs for his second three-RBI performance of the year, while Ring drove in two.

• Arkansas State stole three bases in the game for only the third time this season. A-State also stole three versus Milwaukee March 5, while the team's team high is four against Memphis March 29.

• Joe Schrimpf extended his team-best current hit streak to seven games, while Jake Bakamus owns a team-best 12 game on-base streak.

• The Red Wolves improved to 4-3 on Tuesday games this year and are now 4-4 on the year in midweek contests.

• The five-game winning streak for A-State is its longest of the season and the longest since a six- game streak in the 2014 season from April 12-20. The Red Wolves won the final two games of a three-game series against South Alabama, defeated Memphis in the midweek, and swept ULM to get to six.

LET'S TURN TWO

• A-State is now 22nd in the nation in double plays turned with 43 and also ranks as the top team in the Sun Belt Conference in the category. The Red Wolves turned two double plays against Appalachian State Friday in the first game of the doubleheader with a 5-4-3 twin killing in the first inning and a 1-6-3 double play in the third inning. Georgia Tech leads the nation with 61.

• The team's season-high for double plays is four against Saint Louis Feb. 27 in the second game of a doubleheader. The team has turned 11 6-4-3 double plays for the team lead, with eight 4-6-3 twin-killings in second. The Red Wolves turned their first 9-3 double play after White doubled off a runner after catching a fly ball against the Warhawks Friday night. Tony Ortiz recorded A-State's only unassisted double play of the season at South Alabama April 8 when he snagged a line shot at first base and doubled the runner off. A-State's weirdest double play of the year is a 7-5-4 one that was turned after Garrett Rucker dove and appeared to catch a ball in left field for a split second. Rucker was able to pick it up and throw to third for a force out and then the ball was throw to second for another force out.

• Arkansas State turned 34 double plays a year ago and surpassed that total only 34 games into the regular season. The school record for double plays is 59 in both 1998 and 1994.

SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR

• Arkansas State has held the lead in 34 of its 43 games so far this season. A-State defeated App State 9-7 in game one of the series and held a shortly-lived 1-0 edge in game two before losing 9-2 in the second game. The Red Wolves carried a 4-3 advantage to the bottom of the ninth inning in the series finale, but lost on a three-run, walk-off home run 6-4.

• The only games the Red Wolves haven't led in were the 5-0 loss to UAB in the first game of a doubleheader on Feb. 20, the March 6 loss to Milwaukee, the 2-0 loss to UTA on March 12 in the second game of a doubleheader, the March 24 loss to Georgia Southern 8-3, the two losses to Louisiana-Lafayette April 2 and 3, the 8-2 loss to USA April 8, and the losses to Troy on April 15 and 17.

• A-State has already been involved in eight walk-off games this season, three coming in a row against Ole Miss, Morehead State, and Saint Louis. The first two were losses, but the Red Wolves defeated SLU 5-4 when Ty White delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to plate to score pinch-runner Garrett Huff. It was the team's first walk-off win since May 15, 2015 when Stuart Levy hit a sacrifice fly to defeat UALR 4-3 in 14 innings. It was the team's first walk-off hit since Matt Burgess hit a single to beat UALR on March 15, 2014 in the second game of a doubleheader, which also wound up being a 4-3 win for the Red Wolves in 14 innings. Since then, A-State defeated Southern Illinois 1-0 in walk-off fashion March 15 on a wild pitch and lost to Georgia State 5-4 on a walk-off infield single March 19. Tanner Ring gave the Red Wolves a walk-off win with a single in the bottom of the ninth against Ga. Southern March 25. More recently, A-State won against ULM April 24 on a walk-off fielder's choice by Neil Lambert, while the loss to App State in the series finale was the most recent walk-off decision.

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

• Arkansas State was only hit with two pitches over the past weekend's series against

Appalachian State to bring the team's total to 74 on the year, which ranks as tied for fifth in the nation and is tops in the Sun Belt Conference.

• Jackson State leads the country with 93, while Alabama State is second with 83. North Carolina Central is third with 78 and Southern is fourth with 77. Tennessee Tech is tied for fifth with A-State with 74, while Georgia Southern is just one behind the Red Wolves at 73.

• The Red Wolves have a good start on chasing last year's team in the category after the 2015 squad was hit by a pitch 94 times, good for fifth in the country. Zach George led the team a season ago with 16 HBPs.

• Jake Bakamus leads the team with 15 hit-by-pitches, which is first in the SBC and 10th in the country. Jeremy Brown is second on the team with nine after being hit once against App State. He ranks as seventh in the conference. Matt Burgess is third on the team with eight. 14 different players have been hit by a pitch for the team.

SCHRIMPF EARNS SBC WEEKLY AWARD

• A-State junior infielder/catcher Joe Schrimpf picked up A-State's first weekly award of the season Monday, April 25 after his performance during that week. It is the team's first weekly award since Schrimpf earned the honor on May 12 of last season.

• The St. Louis, Mo., native went 8-for-17 over the four A-State wins last week with two hits in each contest. He hit his fifth home run of the season Saturday, second most on the team, and hit a double and a triple in Sunday's game with the triple setting up the winning run in the 5-4 walk-off win over ULM. Schrimpf led A-State with a .550 on-base percentage and a .824 slugging percentage during the week and drove in five runs.

• For the season, he is hitting .305 and is the team's leader in RBIs (35), slugging percentage (.496), on-base percentage (.437), walks (28), and sacrifice bunts (7).