Delta Devils Look To Ride Momentum Into Florida A&M Series
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Mississippi Valley State University baseball program will attempt to keep the good vibes flowing heading into a pivotal weekend series against the Rattlers after an emotional series victory over Alabama A&M last Sunday.
What You Need to Know
Time and Dates: Friday, March 25 (4 p.m. CT) | Saturday, March 26 (1 p.m. CT) | Sunday, March 27 (12 p.m. CT)
Records: Mississippi Valley State (6-6-1, 2-1 SWAC) | Florida A&M (6-16, 0-3 SWAC)
Location: Tallahassee, Florida – Moore-Kittles Field
Series History: N/A
Last Meetings: N/A
Winning Streak: N/A
Mississippi Valley State Overview
After scoring only 40 runs during the entire 2021 season, the Delta Devils have already pushed across 94 runs through 13 games and are among the top-75 highest scoring teams in the nation at 7.2 runs on average.
The offense has been transformed seemingly overnight as they are the NCAA’s and SWAC’s best regarding batting average (.300), on-base percentage (.402), steals per game (2.69), and triples per game (0.38).
At the forefront of the turnaround are first-year Head Coach Stanley Stubbs and his former Rust College ballplayers Maury Weaver and Dreylin Holmes who followed him to Itta Bena.
Weaver has been the speed threat as he averages a stolen base per game to rank second in the country (13 total) while Dreylin Holmes has brought the power with a team-high three doubles and two home runs plus a triple to go along with a slugging percentage north of .550 (.561).
Jan Tolentino (.324) and leadoff man Narvin Booker (.314) are the clubhouse leaders as far as batting average while three different Devils; Ty Washington (13), Maury Weaver (10) and Chris Soeder (10); have recorded double-digit RBIs.
Scouting The Opponent: Florida A&M Rattlers
FAMU has six non-conference victories with five coming against SWAC West opponents plus a win over Ball State but have dropped nine straight coming into the weekend including a sweep in Montgomery at the hands of the Alabama State Hornets.
The former MEAC squad has unexpectedly stumbled out of the blocks as they are among the top-half of the conference in just strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.81), strikeouts per nine innings (8.3), triples (6) and walks allowed per nine innings (4.60).
Ben Krizen has emerged as one of the go-to closers in the league, locking down three saves to top the SWAC thanks to 19 strikeouts over just 12.1 innings.
The offense is led by a three-headed attack in Grant Rowell (.328 Avg, 12 RBI), Ty Hanchey (.309 Avg, 11 RBI, 5 2B), and Joseph Pierini (.284 Avg, 12 BB, 8 RBI) as they all perch atop the Rattlers leaderboard with 21 hits apiece.
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