Blue Raiders head to UAB for pivotal series

Thursday, May 17

Birmingham, AL

6:30 PM

Middle Tennessee

UAB

5/16/2018 4:00:00 PM | Baseball

By: MT Athletics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Middle Tennessee heads into the final weekend of the C-USA baseball race looking to secure one of the two remaining spots for the conference tournament.

The Blue Raiders (25-26-1, 10-16-1) will face UAB (20-29, 12-15) in a three-game series set to begin Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The series continues Friday at 6:30 p.m., with the finale set for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Middle Tennessee, Rice, UAB and WKU are vying for the final two spots of the eight-team, double-elimination tournament that will take place in Biloxi, Miss. WKU (21-28, 11-16) is at Florida Atlantic (34-15-1, 17-8-1) this weekend, while Rice (23-28-2, 11-14-2) will close at FIU (25-25,-14-12).

There are several scenarios in which the Blue Raiders could make the tournament, but they need to either win the series or sweep UAB to earn a spot. If Middle Tennessee sweeps UAB, then it would need either Rice to lose one game, or WKU lose at least two at Florida Atlantic.

If Middle Tennessee wins two games at UAB, then it must also have WKU lose at least two games at Florida Atlantic AND Rice win no games at FIU.

Middle Tennessee will send senior southpaw Jake Wyrick to the mound Thursday. Wyrick is a big reason the Blue Raiders are still in contention for a tournament berth. Wyrick has won three straight starts to open series, including wins against Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech and UTSA, which are currently second, third and fifth, respectively, in C-USA.

The Blue Raiders have some of the league's top offensive performers entering the series at UAB. Senior standout Aaron Aucker leads the league in RBI with 65, but he is also tied for second in home runs with 13 and his .345 batting average is 10^th among league leaders. He is also tied for the league lead in doubles with 18 and is second in total bases with 126.

Austin Dennis is also putting together another stellar campaign. Dennis has proven to be one of C-USA's best all-around players. He is among C-USA leaders in runs (2^nd, 58), hits (3^rd, 73), stolen bases (2^nd, 23 [in 27 attempts]), at bats (4^th, 312), on-base percentage (10^th, .421) and batting avg. (12^th, .344), while seeing action at centerfield, shortstop, second base and on the mound, where he is 2-2 with three saves. Dennis has hit safely in 27 of 28 games, and has 20 multi-hit games this season.

Senior second baseman Ryan Kemp is hitting .430 since returning to the lineup from an oblique injury. He enters the series with an 18-game hit streak.