Baseball hosts defending GCAC Champion Rust College
The first-place Wiley University baseball team will take on the defending regular season Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champion Rust College in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday at Airport Park.
Friday's first pitch is at 1 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon. Live stats will be available for all three games. The Wildcats will honor seniors Caidin Franklin, Donovan Rice and Albert Thurston in between Saturday's games.
Wiley (11-13, 6-0 GCAC) extended its season-long winning streak to eight games after a three-game sweep at Tougaloo College. It hit five home runs and outscored the Bulldogs 36-8. Jhan Carlos Javier went 7-for-12 with two home runs, six runs batted in and scored five runs. He became the GCAC leader with six home runs. Ivan Del Villar hit two home runs, drove in six runs and scored three. Ryan Ready went 5-for-10 with a home run, six runs and eight RBI. Eddie Garza recorded five hits, stole 11 bases and scored seven runs.
On the mound, Isaac Burciaga picked up his third win of the season in the series opener against Tougaloo College. Keyon Guillory won his second consecutive start, holding Tougaloo to a run on two hits and struck out five. Jalen Porter won his first start in the finale.
Rust (8-19, 4-2 GCAC) was swept in a doubleheader against Blue Mountain Christian University on March 12. It split a twin bill against Stillman College on Tuesday. It sits in third in the GCAC standings, trailing Talladega College by a half-game.
Malik Berrien leads the team with a .411 batting average, 32 runs, 28 stolen bases and is second with 17 RBI. Seven of his 30 hits have gone for extra bases with six doubles and a triple. Kyrent Cole leads the team with 18 RBI.
The Bearcats have used several pitchers with none pitching more than 20 innings. Xavier Campbell leads the team with 19 2/3 innings pitched and 16 strikeouts in six appearances. He's 0-3 with a 10.53 earned run average. Matthew Davis leads the team with a 6.32 ERA in 15 2/3 innings. Jackson Bryant, Arvis Latting and Brytan Sampson each have two victories.
The Wildcats and Bearcats have met eight times since 2007. This series will be the first time they've met in Marshall. Wiley leads the series 4-3-1. It won the regular season series last season, taking two out of three games. The Wildcats fell to Rust in the second game of the 2023 Black College World Series.
For more coverage on the Wildcats visit Baseball - Wiley University (wileyathletics.com)
#FeartheClaws #LevelUp #EarnHistory
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS
Twitter: @WileyAthletics
Facebook: /WileyAthletics
Instagram: @wileyuniversityathletics
YouTube: /c/Wiley Wildcats
HBCU+: Wiley University