UMHB (11-10 overall) is sitting at 5-4 and in fifth place in the American Southwest Conference West Division standings.
But the good news for the Crusaders is that the four clubs ahead of them — first-place Hardin-Simmons (15-8, 8-1), Texas Lutheran (21-4, 7-2), Concordia-Austin (17-10, 6-3) and McMurry (14-9, 6-3) — lock up against each other this weekend.
Even better is that UMHB gets to host last-place Sul Ross State (5-20, 0-9) in a three-game series starting today with a noon doubleheader at Red Murff Field. The Crusaders and the Lobos will play a single game at noon Saturday.
“This is a big weekend for us,” UMHB coach Micah Wells said. “It’s kind of what we’re looking at — for the losses to total up at the top. We still control our own destiny quite a bit. We need three wins this weekend to hopefully put us right back in the picture.”
But Wells is well aware that his club has Hardin-Simmons, McMurry and Texas Lutheran remaining on its schedule.
“It would be good to leapfrog a couple of these teams and get settled in for the last three weeks,” he said. “Those last series will definitely be a test.”
Leading the charge at the plate for UMHB will be and has been the 1-2-3 punch of right fielder Dean Shirley, shortstop Billy Moore and second baseman Justin Champion.
Leadoff man Shirley (.338 batting average) has a team-best 25 hits, 21 runs scored, and three home runs. The speedy Moore leads the team in batting (.393) and is 13-of-13 on stolen bases.
Champion (.324) is tied with Moore with a team-leading five doubles and 10 walks. He also has a .945 fielding percentage and has pounded out 23 hits.
“Dean’s power numbers are better than expected,” Wells said. “Billy has been a pleasant surprise. He just gets up there, puts the ball in play, and lets his speed work for him. He’s a big reason we are where we are. We were relying on Justin from the start. He started off kind of slow, but now he’s having a great season.
“Overall, I’m not surprised of what these guys have done.”
Also powering the offense has been designated hitter Heath Haverland (.316) and catcher Jason King, who share the team lead with 13 RBI apiece.
As for the pitching staff, Wells has been impressed with his bullpen, led by T.J. McKnight, Stephen Spanier and Cody Walker.
“There hasn’t been a guy this season that we brought in and thought they couldn’t get the job done,” Wells said.
McKnight (4-0 record, one save) has a team-best 2.53 earned-run average in 10 innings, and Spanier (2.89) has chipped in nine solid innings of work.
Walker (2-0) has made 10 appearances out of the pen and has started two games. Wells said that Walker would get another chance to start in Saturday’s finale.
The Crusaders’ coach couldn’t feel any more comfortable going into a doubleheader than to have Kyle Furrer and Ryan Gotcher, respectively, starting on the hill.
UMHB ace Furrer (2-2) sports a 2.93 ERA, has a team-high 32 strikeouts, and has walked only eight batters in 43 innings. Workhorse Gotcher (2-2, 29 strikeouts in 33 innings) has done nothing but keep the Crusaders in every game he’s pitched.
“Looking at Friday, if we need to win two games, then these two guys give us an excellent chance to set up a potential sweep on Saturday,” Wells said. “But we can’t get to far ahead of ourselves.”
With the Crusaders in good shape to get right back in the hunt for one of the West’s two berths in the ASC Tournament, Wells knows one thing is for sure.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been at this point in the season with a legitimate shot to make the conference tournament,” he said. “The kids have worked extremely hard.”
