TYLER, TEXAS – #24 UT Tyler will finish up their current ten-game homestand this weekend with a three-game Lone Star Conference series against Cameron.
The series will get started with a single game on Friday at 6 p.m. and then conclude on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. The Patriots dropped down to no. 24 in the latest NCBWA Division II Top 25 poll this week after a 2-1 series win over Eastern New Mexico over the weekend.
TURNAROUND TIME
UT Tyler (10-6, 10-5 LSC) will enter Friday night's game with Cameron (3-10, 3-6 LSC) on a two-game losing streak, just the second such streak for the program since Mar. 26 of 2019. The Patriots committed an uncharacteristic seven combined errors in the losses against Eastern New Mexico last Saturday and to Southern Arkansas in midweek action on Tuesday.
Despite the defensive miscues, UT Tyler lost both of those games by just a single run in 10-9 fashion to Eastern New Mexico and by a 5-4 tally to Southern Arkansas. The Patriots have slipped back into fourth place in the Lone Star Conference record with a mark of 10-5 in LSC play, one game behind Texas A&M-Kingsville for third place, who sits at 9-3 in league play.
RILEY IS ROCKIN
Senior
Riley Jepson is in the midst of a five-game hitting streak for the Patriots and will look to continue to provide solid at bats for UT Tyler this week. Jepson has scored five times himself in the last four games against Eastern New Mexico and the midweek game against Southern Arkansas, and posted multi-RBI games in Saturday's game one win against Eastern New Mexico and the loss against Southern Arkansas.
Jespon leads the team with a .356 average on the year and ranks second in the Lone Star Conference with 22 RBI on the season.
FAMILIAR NAMES IN UNFAMILIAR ROLES
A slew of injuries to the traditional Patriot starting rotation forced head coach
Brent Porche to turn to some of his most trusted traditional relievers last weekend to pick up some starts for UT Tyler.
Johnnie Krawietz did just that in Friday's 12-0 run-rule of Eastern New Mexico for the Patriots and rose to the occasion of the Friday night start typically held by
Austin Schneider.
Krawietz went six innings strong for UT Tyler and tossed a three-hit shoutout of the Greyhounds while striking out nine along the way. That start was the second in as many weekends for Krawietz after getting the Saturday start against then-#17 West Texas A&M the week prior.
Nick Niebur got his first start of the 2021 season in the game two loss against Eastern New Mexico on Saturday evening. He went 3.1 innings and was credited with the no decision despite allowing just two earned runs.
HISTORY WITH THE AGGIES
UT Tyler is 5-2 all-time against Cameron entering this weekend's action, and have gotten the better of the Aggies in each of the five most recent outings. The Patriots defeated Cameron by 3-1, 11-1 and 4-1 final scores in last year's sweep at Irwin Field on Feb. 29-Mar. 1.
The Patriots struck out Cameron 56 times in just 32 innings pitched in that series and outscored the Aggies by a 21-to-3 margin.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Cameron enters the weekend with an overall record of 3-10 and a Lone Star Conference mark of 3-6. The Aggies sit 12
th out of 13 teams in the conference standings entering this weekend and have lost their last seven games.
Those seven losses have come in a non-conference series on Mar. 3-7 against Augustana and last weekend's LSC series against UT Permian Basin.
Jayce Clem has recorded a hit in 11 out of the 13 games on the year for Cameron and ranks seventh in the LSC entering the series with UT Tyler with a season average of .426. Cameron ranks 11
th in the LSC as a club with a .230 average on the year.
The Aggie pitching staff has struggled thus far in 2021, posting a league-worst 9.38 ERA through 13 games. Marcos Feria (7.31 ERA) and Tyler Cornett (14.34 ERA) have each made a start in all four weekend series for the club.
