By: Jake Miller
HARTSVILLE, S.C.- Coker baseball will host Wingate this weekend (Mar. 24-25) in a key South Atlantic Conference weekend series. Video and live stats for all three games will be available at www.cokercobras.com.
Coker took two of three games from visiting Lenoir-Rhyne last weekend (Mar. 17-18), sweeping Saturday's doubleheader 11-0 and 5-4.
On the season, Thomas Lopez leads the Cobras at the plate, hitting for a team-high .351, which is 19th individually in the SAC. AJ Strnad leads the team in home runs with five, which is tied for 10th in the league. On the mound, reigning Astroturf South Atlantic Conference Pitcher of the Week Forrest Arnold is third in the league with 43.2 innings pitched, while Griffin Hollifield leads the league with a 1.48 earned run average. Hollifield's also leads the league in saves with five.
The Bulldogs come into the matchup 13-16 overall and 4-5 in South Atlantic Conference play. Ty Andrus leads the Bulldogs lineup, hitting .353 on the season, good for 18th in the league. Brandon Donahue has worked his fair share of innings for Wingate this season, coming into the series fifth in the SAC with 42.2 innings thrown.
First pitch on Friday is set for 3:00 p.m. at Tom J. New Field at Dave Schmotzer Stadium. Saturday will be a doubleheader starting with a nine inning game at 12:00 p.m. followed by a seven inning game starting at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for the games are $5 for adults, $3 for students and free to all Coker faculty, staff and students.