ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville baseball team is at home this weekend for a Big South Conference series with league-leading VMI. The Bulldogs and Keydets three-game series begins Friday night at McCormick Field with a 7 p.m. first pitch. The second game on Saturday will also be at McCormick Field and is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. The third game on Sunday will be played at Greenwood Field on UNC Asheville's campus and starts at 1 p.m. The first two games of the series can be seen via video-streaming for a small fee at www.uncabulldogs.com. Admission is $4.
The Bulldogs are 13-22 on the season and a tough-luck 1-5 in league play. Three of Asheville's league losses have come by one run and the Dogs have led in each of those games. VMI is 15-16 on the year but leads the league with a 7-2 BSC worksheet.
Asheville is being led at the plate by junior shortstop Kevin Weidenbacher. The Louisiana native has the nation's longest hitting streak going into this weekend's action at 30 games. He broke the Big South record of 28 last Sunday against Liberty. Weidenbacher leads Asheville in hitting with a .383 average.
The Bulldogs will throw senior right-hander Alan DeRatt Friday night. DeRatt has been nothing short of dominant with a 6-0 record. His ERA is 0.73 and that's fourth best nationally. He has allowed four earned runs in 49.1 innings of work this season. DeRatt tossed six scoreless innings last Friday in a 9-0 win over Liberty.
“We've got to turn some of these one-run losses into wins,” commented UNC Asheville coach Willie Stewart. “We're not playing too bad but need to find a way to make more plays and win games.
“VMI is a good team and is well-coached,” added Stewart. “They are not going to beat themselves.”
