By
James Hernandez
The CSN Coyotes (20-4 SWAC, 33-11 overall) welcome the Salt Lake City Bruins (17-7 SWAC, 21-15 overall) into "The Den" this weekend for a Scenic West Athletic Conference showdown with first place on the line. Both teams got off to slow starts this year (CSN 4-7, SLCC 4-10), but both overcame early season adversity and are now thriving. The Coyotes enter the matchup winners of 29 of its last 33 games (87% win pct.) and the Bruins aren't far behind, putting 17 of its last 25 (68% win pct.) in the win column. Over the last three seasons CSN owns a 12-7 edge over SLCC, however 11 of the 19 games have been decided by one run. CSN comes into the matchup hitting .308 with 300 runs scored on 405 hits and SLCC is batting .261, plating 182 runs on 281 hits. On the mound both staffs have put up similar numbers all season long with the Coyotes (4.10 ERA, 281 hits, .230 BAA, 340 K's) holding a slight edge over the Bruins (4.21 ERA, 253 hits, .244 BAA, 272 K's ).
Players To Watch:
CSN:
31-Justin Lutes (.405* AVG, 43* runs, 47* hits, 35 RBI, 41 BB)
16-Jordan Macias (.328 AVG, 25 runs, 38 hits, 30 RBI)
7-Christian Maggi (.321 AVG, 38 runs, 44 hits, 20 RBI, 20* SB)
15-Jarrett Perns (.280 AVG, 29 runs, 42 hits,22 RBI)
10-Jay Martz (.270 AVG, 31 runs, 37 hits, 23 RBI)
21-Dillon Johnson (.257 AVG, 29 runs, 37 hits, 21 RBI, 14 SB)
SLCC:
16-Jacob Thurber (.325 AVG, 24 runs, 37* hits, 3 HR, 22 RBI)
21-Nick Seginowich (.321 AVG, 20 runs, 36 hits, 4* HR 28* RBI)
6-Mitch Berryhill (.316 AVG, 30 runs, 37* hits, 12 RBI, 10* SB)
12-Nic Roberts (.300 AVG, 25* runs, 33 hits, 15 RBI, 10* SB)
4-Kam Lane (.246 AVG, 19 runs, 30 hits, 22 RBI)
Top Arms:
Coyotes:
26-Todd Danzeisen (7-0* w-l, 3.61 ERA, 52.1 IP, 44 K's)
37-Ben Cutting (4-0 w-l, 2.37 ERA, 57* IP, 52* K's)
28-Isaiah Blaylock (6-2 w-l, 3.80 ERA, 47.1 IP, 46 K's)
13-Herbie Good (2-1 w-l, 5.03 ERA, 48.1 IP, 49 K's)
19-Alex Tisminezky (3-1 w-l, 2.14 ERA, 21 IP, 26 K's, 2* saves)
14-Blake Inouye (5-2 w-l, 2.81 ERA, 25.2 IP, 32 K's, 2* saves)
Bruins:
Trenton Griffin (4-0* w-l, 3.40 ERA, 42.1* IP, 36* K's)
Jesse Parker (3-2 w-l, 2.86 ERA, 28.1 IP, 32 K's)
Will Heward (2* saves, 1.74 ERA, 20.2 IP, 19 K's)
Jayden Hartle (1-0 w-l, 1.12 ERA, 16 IP, 10 K's)
Mason Abrath (1-1 w-l, 0.69* ERA, 13 IP, 19 K's)
Fans if you can't make it out to "The Den" Friday and Saturday afternoon to watch in person, a live broadcast of all four games between CSN and SLCC will be available by logging onto the Coyote Sports Network @ www.csncoyotes.com/watch. Live game stats available all weekend long @ www.sidearmstats.com/csn/baseball.
*Denotes 2017 team leader
