The Temple College Leopards travel to Denison on Wednesday to begin their four-game Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference series against the Grayson College Vikings.
The doubleheader in Denison will start at 12 noon on Wednesday. The teams will play on Friday at the Danny Scott Sports Complex in a Friday doubleheader that starts at 12 noon.
The Leopards are coming off a tough four-game series loss against Cisco College, where they led in three of the four games late. The scores of the series were 4-3 (eight innings), 7-5, 13-3 (six innings), and 5-3.
Grayson is coming off a series sweep of NCTC by scores of 10-0 (five innings), 28-5 (five innings, with 21 runs in the second inning), 8-1, and 4-3. The Vikings played at Seminole State College (OK) on Monday and lost 14-13 in 10 innings.
In 2024, the Vikings took three out of four from the Leopards. On May 1, Grayson swept TC 12-6 and 4-3 in Denison. On May 4, Temple won the first game 9-3 and Grayson took the second contest, 5-4.
Through 39 games, the Leopards are hitting .265 with an on-base percentage of .390 and slugging percentage of .392. TC has scored 215 runs on 291 hits, 56 doubles, 4 triples, 25 homers, 190 runs batted in, 186 walks, been hit 47 times, and have stolen 59 bases in 67 attempts.
Kade Davis (.354 BA, .415 OBP, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 10 doubles), Lance Cantrell (.320 BA, .433 OBP, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 8 doubles, 24 walks), Andrew Ermis (.318 BA, .497 OBP, 7 HR, 27 RBI, 20 HBP, 18 walks), and Ryder Rutledge (.301 BA, .429 OBP, 2 HR, 19 RBI, 17 walks) have been among the productive Leopards this season.
Temple's staff earned run average this season is 6.35, with 273 strikeouts and 172 walks in 279 1/3 innings.
Patrick Collopy (5-1, 2.80 ERA, 64 strikeouts, 18 walks in 54 2/3 IP), Eric Tenery (4-3, 4.53 ERA, 38 strikeouts, 26 walks in 45 2/3 IP), Tobin Eschief (3-6, 5.29 ERA, 51 strikeouts, 24 walks in 47 2/3 IP), and Davis (3-4, 7.20 ERA, 30 strikeouts, 25 walks in 35 IP) have been the starting four in the rotation for Temple.
Through 42 games, Grayson is hitting .310 with an on-base percentage of .425 and slugging percentage of .510. The Vikings have scored 277 runs on 349 hits, 66 doubles, 7 triples, 48 homers, 258 runs batted in, 193 walks, been hit by 44 pitches, and have stolen 63 bases on 79 attempts.
Austin Goodwin (.394 BA, .463 OBP, 4 HR, 31 RBI, 13 doubles), Sloan Barrett (.366 BA, .474 OBP, 5 HR, 27 RBI, 11 doubles, 16 steals), Chase Womack (.349 BA, .478 OBP, 6 HR, 30 RBI), Caleb Hoover (.339 BA, .500 OBP, 14 HR, 46 RBI, 34 walks), and Brandon Creek (.306 BA, .426 OBP, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 23 walks, 12 steals) are among the offensive leaders in the Grayson offensive arsenal.
Grayson's pitching staff has an earned run average of 4.97, having allowed 158 earned runs, struck out 328 and walked 174 in 286 innings.
Kade Neuenschwander (5-4, 2.25 ERA, 5 complete games, 2 shutouts, 55 strikeouts, 18 walks in 52 innings), Braydon Risley (2-1, 4.44 ERA, 66 strikeouts, 15 walks in 46 2/3 IP), Kai Parker (1-2, 3.72 ERA, 38 strikeouts, 18 walks in 29 IP), and Chase Davis (1-4, 4.94 ERA, 20 strikeouts, 15 walks in 23 2/3 IP) are the main starters for the Vikings.
The series is a big one for Grayson, as they sit in second place with a 17-7 conference mark, two games behind No. 2 Weatherford College (19-5 NTJCAC) and two games in front of No. 18 McLennan Community College. The Coyotes and Highlanders start their four-game series at Roger Williams Ballpark in Weatherford on Wednesday.
Cisco College (14-10 NTJCAC) sits in the conference's final playoff spot, two games in front of Vernon College (11-9 NTJCAC) and five games in front of Temple with eight games to play.