Lions play 2pm doubleheader today

Home Baseball: SAGU vs Bacone College

Twinbill originally on Saturday at the WSC

WAXAHACHIE, Texas  --  The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (11-16) baseball team has announced a change in this weekend's three-game series with Oklahoma's Bacone College (17-11).

The teams will still play three games at the Waxahachie Sports Complex (Broadhead Rd., north of Hwy 287, across from Show Biz Theatre and Whataburger). However, instead of a solo game on Friday, March 23, the Lions and Warriors will now play a doubleheader.

Game One is set for a 2:00pm (CST) first pitch on Field #7 at the WSC. Game Two will follow approximately twenty minutes after the first contest ends, roughly around 4pm.

NEW THREADS

SAGU will debut their new white jerseys on Friday. They are complete with scriptive Lions across the chest (in purple with gold trim). Numerals, like Lions, are embroidered in the school's primary colors. 

Admission and parking is free to the general public. Covered seating is available as well as restrooms and concessions.

Saturday will be a single game at noon between the teams.

Weather forecasts call for temperatures to range between 75 and 77 degrees with no chance of rain. Southerly winds of 6 mph are anticipated. Saturday could see a sunny sky as temps reach 82.

Pitching Rotation for 3-game homestand

According to SAGU's first year head coach Jon Shockley, the three pitchers Southwestern will likely send to the hill are John Savis (Canton, Tx / Canton HS)  and Robert Elles (Red Oak, Tx / Tyler JuCo, Red Oak HS)  on Friday and Rockie Davis (Santa Fe, Tx / Santa Fe HS)  on Saturday.

Both Elles (pronounced like Ellis) and Davis are freshmen. Elles (0-1) is a southpaw, while Davis (1-4) is a righty.

 Savis, a sophomore, brings a 1-4 mark into the opener, though he has the team's best earned run average at 4.56. That figure ranks the righthander #15 in the Red River Athletic Conference.

Cats Bats, Team Stats

The Lions top seven batters include: SS Jacob Spivey (Georgetown, Tx / Harker Heights HS)  .348, 2B Donovan Vess (Ft. Worth, Tx / Eastfield College, Lake Worth HS)  .345, C Jared Denton (Mission, Tx / Sharyland HS)  .300, DH Mario Mendoza (Ft. Worth, Tx / Grambling State, Poly HS)  .283, 3B Riley Hensel (Maypearl, TX / Maypearl HS)  .263, CF Dustin Jett (Patterson, La / Patterson HS)  .259 and RF Ben Chavez (Roswell, NM / NM Military Institute, Gateway Christian HS) ) .245.

Spivey and Vess, the shortstop/second base combo that has already surpassed the team's 2011 double play total, both rank in the RRAC's Top 20 batters. Vess' .527 slugging percentage appears at #13 in the league.

Jett is #4 in the Red River in stolen bases with 13. He has yet to be thrown out. Mendoza is seven-of-nine in thefts.

SAGU bats are ninth in the league, swinging a collective .255 while scoring 3.3 runs per outing. Both figures rank 9th in the 10-team in league. Last season the Cat's bats had a .280 batting average (10th in RRAC) and produced 4.7 runs.

Bacone (BAY-kohn), from Muskogee, Oklahoma, is fourth in team batting average at .285 and third in scoring at 7.1 rpg.

The Lions hurlers have a combined 6.33 earned run average (8th in RRAC), compared to BC's 4.74 (5th).

In 2011 the SAGU pitching staff  had a 7.38 ERA after finishing last in 2010 at an even 10.00.

Schedule Update and Additional Dates

Southwestern will return to action next weekend, March 30-31, when they face the NAIA's #6 ranked LSU-Shreveport (23-3) at the Waxahachie Sports Complex.

SAGU has also announced they have agreed to a make-up date with LeTourneau University. The Lions and Yellowjackets (7-15) will play two games on April 3 in Longview, Texas.

Dense fog postponed their twinbill on February 15.

The Jackets are in the American Southwest Conference in the NCAA's Division III.

The Lions could enter the National Christian College Athletic Association's Central Regional tournament in five weeks; May 3-5, in Denver. 

Colorado Christian University (NCAA Division II) will host the tourney in suburban Lakewood.

Should they qualify for a berth at the NCCAA's Nationals, the team would travel to Mason, Ohio for the May 16-19 event. Mason is between Cincinnati and Columbus in the southeastern corner of the state.

Prasco Park, home of the Cincinnati Spikes, serves as host for Nationals.

Contact: Mark "Link" Warde, Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.