A-STATE/LITTLE ROCK SERIES HISTORY

• A-State leads the all-time series with Little Rock by a count of 72-44 in a series that began in the 1975 season with A-State winning both contests in Jonesboro by scores of 4-3 and 6-1. The

Trojans made the trip to Jonesboro again the following season and A-Staet took both contests by counts of 4-1 and 4-2. The two schools didn't play again until 1980 when Little Rock earned its first two victories in the contest by scores of 7-4 and 7-2 in Jonesboro.

• The two teams played several times throughout the early 80's, but have played in each season from 1987 until now. The two teams because foes in the Sun Belt Conference in 1992, but the five games during the 1992 campaign didn't count as league games. A-State won the first two games by scores of 7-2 and 2-1 in Little Rock before sweeping a three-game set in Jonesboro later in the year by scores of 12-5, 20-7, and 23-7. Since then all of the games played between the two games have counted on the conference standings or occurred during the SBC

Tournament, although the two teams have only met once in the conference tournament (a

13-10 A-State loss in 2000).

• Head coach Tommy Raffo is 23-10 against Little Rock all time. The team won two-of-three in Little Rock to close out the 2009 season in his first three meetings against them. The Trojans won the series 2-1 in 2010 and won two-of-three in the first series of 2011, but A-State reeled off 13 straight victories against Little Rock, including four series sweeps from the second series of 2011 through the first game of the second series during the 2013 campaign. The Trojans won two in a row to end the regular season that year to take the series. A-State swept Little Rock in the first series of 2014 under Raffo's watch, but lost two-of-three to the Trojans in Little Rock before the Red Wolves won last season's series in Jonesboro two games to one.

• Little Rock is currently 25-24 on the year and 16-11 in SBC play, good enough for third place in the league. The Trojans have a 13-11 record at home this year, with a 12-12 mark on the road and 0-1 at a neutral site.

NOTES FROM OLE MISS GAME

• Arkansas State defeated No. 6 Ole Miss 8-6 Tuesday night in Jonesboro and marked the first time since 2012 the Red Wolves had defeated the Rebels. It was the second time this season A-State had defeated a ranked opponent (No. 27 Louisiana-Lafayette, 7-6, April 1). It was the first time the Red Wolves have defeated a top-10 since winning against No. 7 Louisville last season.

• Zach Haake pitched two scoreless innings in his first career start and picked up the win as he was on a strict pitch count. The victory is the first of his career.

• Collin Nord tossed 3.1 innings in the win and allowed just one run on four hits with one walk and one strikeout.

• Tanner Kirby tossed 2.2 innings and picked up his second save of the season in the win with the 2.2 innings pitched just one out shy of his career high of three, set three different times. He did manage to set a new career high with five strikeouts and walked only one batter.

• Redshirt sophomore catcher Daltan Lovell swatted the first home run of his career in the

bottom of the second inning when he took starter Sean Johnson deep. He crushed a 1-0 pitch to left-center field for the homer. He had a great night at the plate going 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. The four hits and two runs scored are career highs.

• Speaking of 4-for-5, senior outfielder Ty White had a four-hit night with two RBIs and two runs scored and hit his third triple of the season in the seventh inning, which is the most on the team.

• Matt Burgess tied his career high with three hits (set 11 times), while Garrett Rucker hit his third home run of the season, a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth inning.

• The team had 17 hits, which is the second most of the season, only trailing a 19-hit

performance at Georgia State on March 18.

NOTES FROM TEXAS STATE SERIES

• Arkansas State claimed its second consecutive league series at home and fourth overall series this season. A-State swept ULM April 22-24 and won a road series at UAB to open the season and won three-of-four against Milwaukee March 4-6. The Red Wolves won 6-1 Friday night and 9-6 Saturday before falling 12-3 in Sunday's series finale.

• Junior infielder Jake Bakamus hit the first two home runs in his career Saturday and Sunday. The first was a three-run shot that cut Texas State's 6-0 lead in half and propelled the team to a comeback win, while Sunday's was a solo shot off the scoreboard in right field to also cut the Texas State lead in half at 2-1. He hit .444 during the three-game set to lead the team with a team-best .545 on-base percentage. He is now hitting .214 on the year, but has the team's second highest on-base percentage at .407.

• Cody Jackson registered his second quality start of the season and had his second victory of the year in Friday's 6-1 win. He allowed one run (earned) on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts in six frames.

• Coulton Lee tossed the final three innings of Friday's contest to earn the save. He entered in the seventh inning with no outs and didn't allow a run on two hits. The save was his first of the season and second of his career.

• Matt Burgess hit his 11th double of the season in Friday's win and then followed with a his first career triple in Saturday's win. The double was the 44th of his career and puts him in a tie for fourth place in A-State history with Zach George.

• Austin Baker was 3-for-5 with two RBIs in Saturday's game. It was his first three-hit game since March 18 at Georgia State and just the second of the year in an injury-plagued campaign.

• Tyler Zuber tossed 5.1 innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win Saturday in relief of Peyton Culbertson, who was making his first SBC start of the year. Zuber allowed two earned runs on five hits with no walks and five punch outs and is now tied with Coulton Lee for most wins on the team with five.

• The two wins over the Bobcats to open the series extended A-State's winning streak to seven games before Texas State's win on Sunday. The Red Wolves are now 8-4 all-time against them.

• The Red Wolves honored seniors Tanner Ring, Austin Baker, Ty White, Cody Jackson, and Adam Grantham prior to Sunday's game.

DOWN TO THE WIRE FOR SBC TOURNAMENT BERTH

• Arkansas State is now 11-16 in conference play and leads ULM by one game and Georgia State by two games entering the final weekend of conference play. A-State owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with ULM, but not Georgia State. A-State also owns the three-way tiebreaker

between the teams due to its composite record against the Warhawks and Panthers.

• The Sun Belt Conference takes the top eight teams to the conference tournament, which is set for May 25-29 in San Marcos, Texas. Assuming all games this weekend are played, A-State just needs to win two games to clinch a berth in the tourney.

• The Red Wolves have three games versus Little Rock remaining, while ULM has in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette and Georgia State plays in-state foe Georgia Southern.

• The Red Wolves have qualified for the SBC Tournament six straight years and are the only team in the conference to win at least two games in the competition in six straight seasons. A-State snuck in as the eighth-seeded team a season ago.

LET'S TURN TWO

• A-State is now 19th in the nation in double plays turned with 50 and also ranks as the top team in the Sun Belt Conference in the category. The Red Wolves turned three double plays against Texas State May 13-15 with two coming in Friday's win (6-4-3 and 4-3), while the other was a 4-6-3 one during Sunday's contest.

• 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 12 6-4-3 double plays for the team lead, with 10 4-6-3 twin-killings in second. The Red Wolves turned their first 8-3 double play May 6 when Garrett Rucker made a diving catch and doubled the runner off of first base. Jake Bakamus turned the team's only 5-3 double play of the year when he got Peyton Culbertson out of a bases-loaded jam May 8. Bakamus reached back and tagged the runner going from second to third and fired a strike to first base to complete the twin killing. 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.

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

• Arkansas State was hit with three pitches against Ole Miss Tuesday night to bring the team's total to 86 on the year, which ranks as third most in the nation.

• Jackson State leads the country with 100, while SWAC conference mate Alabama State is second with 93. Southern has 83 to rank fourth, while Western Carolina rounds out the top five with 82.

• The Red Wolves are just eight away from 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 17 hit-by-pitches after being hit by one against Ole Miss and is first in the SBC and ninth in the country. Jeremy Brown is second on the team with 11. He ranks as sixth in the conference. Garrett Rucker has now been hit with 10 pitches after Tuesday night and ranks as eigth in the league in the category. 14 different players have been hit by a pitch for the team. Bakamus's 17 HBP's is the third most in a season in school history behind Derek Alferman (23 in 1994 and 22 in 1993).

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 April 19-24 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 a team-best .313 and is the team's leader in RBIs (41), on-base percentage (.442), walks (36), and sacrifice bunts (9).