FIRST PITCH
• Coming off their first road trip of the season, the OUAZ baseball team will now head across town to face in-state rival Arizona Christian in a GSAC series this weekend. The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday that starts at 10 a.m. and then play a second doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. Both days games will be played at Apollo High School.

• OUAZ enters the series at 6-13 overall this season and with a 1-4 record in road games. The Spirit are 3-6 in GSAC games where they are currently in eighth-place and 4.5 games out of first. The conference record has them 1.5 games out of the final spot in the conference tournament.

• Arizona Christian will host the in-state series with a 16-7 record and having gone 10-1 at home this season. The Firestorm are fifth in the GSAC race with a 4-4 record after dropping three at William Jessup last weekend.

HOW TO FOLLOW
• All four games of the weekend series will be streamed live on the OUAZ Digital Network – produced by ACU – at OUAZSpirit.com/digital. The games will also be available on the NAIA Network OTT app on Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. Live stats will also be available for each game with links for all live features available at OUAZSpirit.com/live.

AT THE PLATE
• OUAZ heads across town with a .280 batting average and .764 OPS. They are averaging 9.21 hits per game which is good for 43rd in the NAIA.

• The Spirit are sixth in the nation by stealing 3.26 bases per game and they are successful swiping a bag at 86.1 percent.

• Adrian Salazar enters the series on an 11-game hitting streak and seventh in the GSAC with his .388 batting average. Salazar has eight multi-hit games on the year and he is the team leader with four doubles, two home runs, 20 RBI, and 12 stolen bases.

• Jared Crockett leads the Spirit with his .404 batting average which ranks him fifth in the conference. He has seven multi-hit games and has gone 5 for 10 during his current three-game hitting streak.

• Elijah Celaya had six hits during the three games at Menlo to raise his batting average to .340 on the season. He recorded the first cycle in program history during a 4 for 6 performance in Saturday's game.

ON THE MOUND
• The OUAZ pitching staff will start the ACU series with a 6.89 ERA and 1.80 WHIP. Opponents are batting .306 off the team and the Spirit are getting 6.89 strikeouts per nine innings.

• Among qualifiers, Taylor Campos (1-3) leads the team with his 5.46 ERA in five starts. He has thrown a team-best 28.0 innings and holds opponents to a .295 batting average with a 1.54 WHIP. Campos also leads the team with 24 strikeouts.

• Gage Johnson (1-0) has a 6.14 ERA and 1.64 WHIP in his five starts and 22 innings of work. 

• Myles White has three saves and a 5.25 ERA in a team-high 11 appearances. Kapono Rawlins leads the staff with a 2.84 ERA and 1.39 WHIP in his 12.2 innings over five appearances (one start).

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Arizona Christian is 13th in the NAIA by averaging 10.57 hits per game while ranking 26th with a .315 batting average. The Firestorm score 8.00 runs per game while stealing 2.70 bases.

• Walker Keller is hitting .360 to lead the club and his four triples are third-most in the NAIA. He also has a team-best 19 RBI.

• On the mound, ACU ranks 28th in the nation with a 3.88 ERA and 30th with an opponents batting average of .239.

• Trevor McGee (2-1) leads the staff with his 2.48 ERA and 35 strikeouts.

LOOKING AHEAD
• Next week will see the Spirit play five games, starting at Park Gilbert on March 11.

• OUAZ will then head to Costa Mesa, Calif. for their GSAC series against Vanguard. Those two days of doubleheaders are scheduled for March 20-21.