Wildcats sweep past Kingsville
Three wins over Javelinas earn ACU spot in tournament
ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats clinched a spot in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament last weekend with a huge three-game sweep of Texas A&M-Kingsville at Scott Field.
The three victories push ACU to 33-14 overall and 13-7 in LSC South Division play. The Javelinas, meanwhile, fell to 27-19 overall and 13-10. Just two weeks ago, the Javelinas were in the driver's seat for the LSC South Division title, but lost five of their last six division contests to fall out of the post-season tournament. ACU clinched at least the second seed from the LSC South Division because the worst it can finish in division play is 13-10, and because it won the season series from Kingsville (3-2), it gains the spot in the tournament.
Tarleton State leads the LSC South Division at 15-6 and has the inside track on winning the division title and earning the No. 1 seed for the LSC Post-Season Tournament. The tournament will be played the first weekend in May at the site of the No. 1 seed from the LSC North Division.
The Wildcats needed at least two wins over the Javelinas to keep their post-season hopes alive, and they got them in a doubleheader sweep on Friday, winning the first game 4-1 and taking the nightcap, 7-5.
Senior Brandon Shaw – last week's LSC South Division Pitcher of the Week – got the Wildcats off to a good start by scattering seven Javelinas over a complete-game seven innings of work in the 4-1 victory. Shaw allowed one unearned run in the first inning, but that was all the Javelinas could muster against the senior lefthander, who walked three and struck out nine to run his record to 4-0 and lower his earned run average to 3.38.
ACU grabbed the lead with three runs in the bottom of the second, two coming in on Ryan Barker's two-out single to left field. The Wildcats added an insurance run in the sixth when Beau Bimon scored on a wild pitch. Shaw, meanwhile, retired 15 of the final 19 Javelina hitters he faced.
In the second game, Robert Newland – in just his third start of the season – pitched 8 1/3 innings of solid baseball, scattering seven hits and striking out five. ACU led 7-1 going to the ninth before one error opened the floodgates for four Kingsville runs. Justin Whitlock came on in relief of Newland and retired the final two batters to pick up his fifth save of the season.
ACU didn't explode in one inning in the second game, but rather chipped away at the Javelinas, scoring single runs in the first and third innings before adding two in the fifth for a 4-1 lead. ACU added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth for a 7-1 lead. Marcelino Escalante and Barker each had two RBI in the game, and Bimson was 3 for 3 with two runs scored and one RBI.
The Wildcats clinched their spot in the post-season tournament Saturday with a dominating 13-7 win over the Javelinas. ACU pounded out 15 hits and scored in every inning but the fifth and seventh.
ACU put it away early by scoring twice in the first inning, five more times in the second and once more in both the third and fourth innings. ACU had five hits in the five-run second inning, and Don Brockman and Chris Churchill each had RBI doubles in the frame.
Kingsville cut the lead to 9-5 with a run in the first, three in the third and one in the fifth, but ACU put the game away with two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Luis Munoz singled in a run in the sixth, and Churchill scored the other run on a balk. Churchill finished off the Javelinas in the eighth inning with a two-run home run, his third homer of the season.
The Wildcats will return to action Friday and Saturday in a three-game series at Eastern New Mexico.
