(RV) A&M-Victoria Baseball Hosts Jarvis Christian for Little League Weekend, BBQ Fundraiser

The Texas A&M University-Victoria baseball team returns home this weekend looking to keep its momentum rolling

The Jaguars host Jarvis Christian for a three-game Red River Athletic Conference series at Riverside Stadium Friday and Saturday, with free admission on both days.

A&M-Victoria enters the weekend at 16-9 overall and 7-2 in conference play after completing a sweep of Texas A&M-Texarkana last week.

With the sweep, the Jaguars maintained their position in second place in the RRAC and are just two games back from first place.

Fun-filled weekend

The weekend's festivities, which includes free admission to all three games, kick off on Friday with Little League Appreciation Night.

There will be a special on-field ceremony starting at 6:20 p.m., recognizing the Victoria Southeast Little League and all Little Leaguers from the Crossroads region are encouraged to attend.

After the ceremony, A&M-Victoria President Christian Hardigree will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The team's annual silent auction begins Friday night and runs through the sixth inning of Game 3 on Saturday. Items in the auction include, but are not limited to, signed Nolan Ryan memorabilia, Astros tickets and custom Jaguar autographed bats.

Saturday will also be the team's annual BBQ Plate Fundraiser presented by La Lechonera Products and put on by parents of the team. Plates are $20 apiece and include brisket, sausage, chicken and sides. For questions or plate tickets, call 361-571-4840.

Triple threat

Blane Zeplin won his second consecutive and third overall RRAC Pitcher of the Week award this week after a career-best outing.

Zeplin is coming off a career-high 11 strikeouts in A&M-Victoria's 9-4 win over Texas A&M-Texarkana in Game 2 of the series. The senior threw a seven-inning complete game, allowing three earned runs to eventually power the Jaguars (16-9, 7-2) to a sweep of the Eagles.

Zeplin has reached 10+ strikeouts three times this season, and he is now tied for second in wins (5) and strikeouts (45) in the RRAC.

A&M-Victoria's pitching ranks fourth in ERA (4.48) and boasts 184 strikeouts.

This is the fourth time an A&M-Victoria pitcher has won the award and third consecutive week for the Jaguars to win the honor. Jacob Baker was the other Jaguar to win the award.

Offense came alive

In last week's series, the Jaguars scored 36 runs over three games, including a season-high 16 to secure the sweep of A&M-Texarkana.

Garrett Smith and Jackson Purcell led the way for A&M-Victoria over four games last week, each collecting nine hits and eight RBIs.

Smith mashed three home runs last week, including a grand slam in Game 2 vs. Texarkana to break a 2-2 deadlock. He leads the team with seven this year. The Katy native is on a six-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .521 with 12 RBIs.

His seven home runs rank second in the RRAC and his 26 RBIs are good for fifth in the league.

Purcell had multi-hit games in each of the last three games to close out the week and has hit safely in the last four games.

The Jaguars are one of four teams in the conference hitting above .300 as a team with a .310 average through 25 games.

Scouting the Bulldogs

Jarvis Christian comes into this weekend with an 0-16 record overall and an 0-9 mark in conference play after being swept by No. 1 LSU Shreveport. The Pilots outscored the Bulldogs 70-6 in three games.

Historically, A&M-Victoria owns a 20-13 edge in the all-time series after taking two of three games on the road last season at Jarvis.

Follow along

Fans are encouraged to attend the Free Ticket Weekend. But if you can't, a live stream for each game will be provided on the A&M-Victoria Athletics YouTube channel and live stats will be available on TAMUVAthletics.com.