A-STATE/ULM SERIES HISTORY
• A-State leads the all-time series with ULM by a count of 32-28. The series began in 1973 with the Warhawks taking both games from the Red Wolves to open the season by scores of 7-2 and 10-0. The two squads played again in 1974 with A-State winning both contests 2-0 and 8-2.
• After those initial four meetings in the series, the teams didn't play again until the 1983 season when ULM took five out of six games that season. A-State posted a 3-2 record against ULM in 1987 for its first winning record against the team since 1974 and also swept games each season in 1994 and 1997.
• Since the two teams have been in the Sun Belt Conference (ULM joined in 2007), A-State has won six of the nine season series and holds a 17-11 advantage with only one matchup coming during the SBC Tournament. That matchup was the 2012 final in which ULM won by a score of 4-2.
• A-State head coach Tommy Raffo is 14-8 against the Warhawks in his career. The team went 2-1 in his first season as head coach in 2009 in Monroe. A-State won the first two games 14-4 and then 6-4 in 11 innings before falling in the finale 10-8 in 10 innings. A-State has swept ULM twice (2010 and 2014) during Raffo's tenure and has only lost the season series twice in seven chances (2012 and 2015). ULM took two-of-three from the Red Wolves a season ago in Monroe with 3-2 wins in games one and three, sandwiched around an 11-3 A-State win.
• The Warhawks enter the weekend with a 15-22 mark with a 6-9 record in SBC play. The team was most recently defeated by No. 7 Mississippi State in 14 innings by a score of 1-0 Wednesday night. ULM won two of the three games against Georgia State in Monroe in their last conference series.

NOTES FROM SOUTHERN ILLINOIS GAME
• Arkansas State improved to 23-47 all-time against SIU-Carbondale and swept the season series with the Salukis thanks to a 7-1 victory Tuesday night in Carbondale at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Red Wolves won the previous game 1-0 in 10 innings March 15 in Jonesboro.
• A-State jumped on the Salukis early for a 3-0 edge after three innings. SIU plated an unearned run in the fourth to make the score 3-1, but the Red Wolves scored the game's final four runs to put the contest out of reach.
• Garrett Rucker and Tanner Ring each had three hits apiece to lead the team, while Ty White and Joe Schrimpf each had two hits to give A-State's 1-4 hitters all mutli-hit games. Rucker increased his team-best batting average to .316, while Ring stayed one notch below at .315
• Ring hit his team-leading sixth home run in the seventh inning when he absolutely destroyed a ball and hit it over the left-field fence. Ring added two more RBIs in the game and narrowly missed a three-run homer in the top of the first after SIU's LF caught a ball up against the wall for a sacrifice fly.
• Freshman right-hander Peyton Culbertson earned the win in the game and posted his
fist-career quality start with six innings pitched, one run allowed (unearned) on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
• Tanner Kirby earned the first save of his career with a three-inning effort to finish the game. He didn't allow a hit and walked one while striking out two.

NOTES FROM TROY SERIES
• Arkansas State fell to 10-31 all-time against Troy after winning Saturday's game 4-3, but losing Friday's and Sunday's contest.
• The 4-3 win halted an eight-game losing streak for the Red Wolves, which ties the longest of the Raffo era, which was set from April 28-May 11 of the 2013 season. That streak featured losses to Middle Tennessee, Memphis, Louisiana-Lafayette (x3), Tennessee, and Troy (x2). That losing streak was also stopped with a one-run win against Troy (15-14).
• The Red Wolves avoided being shut out for the third time this season when Jake Bakamus drove in Garrett Rucker on a single in the bottom of the ninth in Friday's 11-1 loss to the Trojans.
• The 4-3 win Saturday over the Trojans was the team's fifth one-run victory of the season.
• A-State's bullpen of Coulton Lee and Tyler Zuber allowed four hits, one run (unearned) in four innings of work. Lee earned the win, his team-best fourth of the season, while Zuber registered his first save of the season and first since May 22, 2015 against Georgia State in the SBC
Tournament. Zuber got the final four outs of the game on just 10 pitches.
• Garrett Rucker hit his second home run of the season in the 4-3 win and also drove in Ty White for the winning run with a RBI double.
• A-State could only muster six hits in Sunday's finale and lost 8-1.
• Jake Bakamus, along with Rucker, both hit .455 in the series with two RBIs each. Rucker led the team with a .909 slugging percentage during the series.
• Austin Baker returned to action for the first time since March 22 and was 2-for-8 in the series with a run scored and a double.

LET'S TURN TWO
• A-State is now 13th in the nation in double plays turned with 39 and also ranks as the top team in the Sun Belt Conference in the category. The Red Wolves turned two double play against SIU with both of them being of the 6-4-3 variety.
• 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 3-6 double play of the season Friday night against Troy, giving the team 14 different ways a double play has been turned this season. 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 has already surpassed that total only 35 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 27 of its 36 games so far this season. A-State led after one inning the April 12 midweek game against Southeast Missouri before ultimately falling by a score of 13-8. The team didn't lead in the two games the Red Wolves lost to Troy over the weekend, but did win Saturday's game 4-3.
• 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 six 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 Georgia Southern March 25.

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
• Arkansas State was hit with two pitched against Southern Illinois and that gives the team 63 on the year, which ranks fourth in the nation and first in the Sun Belt Conference. Jackson State leads the country with 82.
• 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 13 hit-by-pitches, which is first in the SBC and 11th in the country. Jeremy Brown is second on the team with eight hit-by-pitches, which is seventh in the conference. 14 different players have been hit by a pitch for the team.

TOUCH 'EM ALL JOE (BUT HURRY)
• A-State junior infielder/catcher Joe Schrimpf hit his first home run of the season in the first game against Saint Louis Feb. 27, but it wasn't your normal home run as it was an inside-the-park home run. He smoked a ball to deep center field that hit off of the wall and
ricocheted back towards the infield. By the time the centerfielder was able to get the ball to the cut-off man, Schrimpf was already racing towards the plate. He was able to slide in safely ahead of the throw that wound up being too high for the catcher to corral.
• The inside-the-parker for Schrimpf was the first of his career and the first for the Red Wolves since Austin Baker hit one at Tomlinson Stadium against Memphis on March 25, 2014.
• The round-tripper was the team's third home run of the season after Tanner Ring and Jeremy Brown both left the yard in the first game of the year at UAB. The team has 14 homers now and Schrimpf is tied for the team lead with Ring with four bombs this season. All of Schrimpf's homers since his first have gone over the fence.

SAVE YOUR RAIN (AND SNOW) DANCES
• A-State has had seven games altered due to potential rain chances causing UAB and the Red Wolves to play a doubleheader opening weekend and move the game with Ole Miss to Wednesday, Feb. 24. The two-game midweek series against Austin Peay was canceled due to rain March 8-9. The weather in the Arlington area forced the Red Wolves and UT Arlington to push back Friday's league opener to part of a Saturday doubleheader March 12. Most recently, A-State postponed its March 30 game with Mississippi Valley State to April 20 and that game was also rained out and won't be made up.
• The Red Wolves had 26 games altered to weather a season ago with a healthy mix of both rain and snow as the culprits. The Red Wolves optioned to go to the Perfect Game Complex in Emerson, Ga., to play No. 7 Louisville instead of to Northwestern State where rain was likely on Feb. 20-21. The Red Wolves would go on to take two-of-three from the Cardinals.
• The second big alteration to the schedule was when Arkansas State shifted its home-opening Sun Belt Conference series versus UT Arlington to Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, Miss., due to winter weather preventing the team from playing in Jonesboro.
• All in all, the Red Wolves ended up playing seven doubleheaders, with the only one that was originally scheduled versus Illinois State on opening weekend. A-State played six consecutive doubleheaders on weekends to open the season.