LAREDO, Texas – The McMurry baseball program has just ten games remaining in its season as the War Hawks travel to Laredo for a three-game series with Texas A&M – International on Friday and Saturday.
 
McM is coming off a loss to Oklahoma Christian that saw the War Hawks notch a season-high, 13 runs in a nine-inning, 14-13, defeat on Monday. In that contest, both Jordan Kennedy and Casey Berryman notched career days.
 
In the contest, Berryman went 3-for-6 with four RBI on the day, while Kennedy made the most of what was just his eighth start of the year, going 4-for-5 at the plate while driving in two runs and scoring three times.
 
Coincidentally, the Dustdevils are also coming off a loss at the hands of Oklahoma Christian, as they fell 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon.  Clinging to a 1-0 lead through seven innings, TAMIU gave up four runs in the final two frames.
 
On the season, McM is being led Dylan De Leon, who is hitting .300 on the season. The senior also leads the team in hits with 39 and is second in doubles with eight. Ricky Garcia is the War Hawks leading RBI man, having collected 16 on the year. Eric Mortiz has driven in 14 runs while Cody Howard and De Leon have driven in 12 and 11 runs, respectively.
 
On the mound, freshman Aaron Burns has been a standout for the War Hawks this season. So far on the year, Burns is 5-3 with a 2.84 ERA, and those numbers get even better against Heartland Conference opponents. In nine games against conference foes, Burns is boasting an impressive 5-1 record and his earned run average drops to a 1.56 in 57.2 innings of work.  Closer Jared Hopper also has a 5-3 record this season, and is just two saves away from tying the school's single-season save record.
 
The Dustdevils, who are currently third in Heartland Conference play, are led offensively by Sean Smedley's .328 average. Alex McKeon leads the team in RBI (20) while Alex Salas is tops on the roster in hits with 45.
 
The pitching staff currently ranks fourth in the conference with a team ERA of 3.84. Abdel Rivera leads the way for TAMIU with an 8-1 record through 11 starts this season. Rivera has pitched 70.2 innings of work, allowing just 17 earned runs while striking out 39.
 
The last time these two teams met this season, the War Hawks took two-of-three from TAMIU winning game one, 8-5, and game three by a score of 3-2. In the series four different players totaled two RBI each as AJ Dupre, Jon Mejia, Nick Marsh and Moritz all drove in two runs.
 
The War Hawks and Dustdevils will start the series with a double header on Friday beginning at 12 p.m. and the series will finish with a nine-inning affair on Saturday. That game is also scheduled for a 12 p.m. start.