BACK ON THE ROAD: The Seattle University baseball team heads to Stockton, Calif., for a four-game series against the Pacific Tigers at Klein Family Field. Originally scheduled for three days, the threat of rain forced the two teams to rework the schedule, starting the weekend set on Thursday, March 4, instead of Friday, March 5. SeattleU is coming off a confidence-boosting three-game series against Portland in which the Redhawks won their first game of the season and forced the Pilots to win the other two games in their final at-bat. After facing schools from the Pac-10 (Washington State) and West Coast Conference (Portland), SeattleU now takes on a squad from the Big West.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Thursday, March 4 - 6 p.m.: RHP Blaine Jones (0-0, 19.64 ERA) vs. RHP Marcus Pointer (2-0, 2.19 ERA)
Friday, March 5 - 6 p.m.: LHP Conor Spink (0-1, 7.27 ERA) vs. LHP David Rowse (1-0, 3.46 ERA)
Saturday, March 6 - 2 p.m.: RHP Brian Shannon (0-0, 7.71 ERA) vs. TBA
Sunday, March 7 - 12 p.m.: RHP Arlo Evasick (0-1, 6.10 ERA) vs. TBA
WEATHER FORECAST (courtesy of The Weather Channel and www.weather.com):
Thursday, March 4 - 6 p.m.: Mostly Clear, 40s, Wind SSW 5 mph
Friday, March 5 - 6 p.m.: Showers, 40s, Wind ENE 3 mph
Saturday, March 6 - 2 p.m.: 70% chance of rain, 50s, Wind ENE 6 mph
Sunday, March 7 - 12 p.m.: Few showers, 55-60, Wind NW 7 mph
SCOUTING PACIFIC: The Tigers come into the weekend with a 4-3 overall record after taking two of three from Nevada over the weekend. Pacific also won two of three in a weekend series against San Francisco and lost a midweek game at Stanford. As a team, Pacific is batting .332 with a 5.37 earned run average and a .978 fielding percentage. Brian Martin is the team's leading hitter, batting .481 with four doubles, six RBI, a .548 on-base percentage, and a .630 slugging percentage. Ben Gorang is batting .429, and Nick Longmire has drawn a team-high five walks while batting .385. Marcus Pointer is 2-0 with a 2.19 earned run average, while David Rowse is 1-0 with a 3.46 earned run average. Jake Hummel has emerged as the closer for the Tigers, earning two saves this season with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
INSIDE SEATTLEU'S STATS: Currently Seattle University is batting .235 as a team with a 9.46 earned run average and a .937 fielding percentage. Cullen Hendrickson leads the team with a .385 batting average, while Nate Roberts is batting .360 and Josh Kalalau has two home runs to lead the Redhawks. Pitching-wise, relief pitcher Max Whieldon earned the team's first victory of the season, improving his record to 1-1 with a 4.76 earned run average.
LIVE COVERAGE: Live stats and live audio will be available on Pacific's athletics website (www.pacifictigers.com).