#18 Wildcats sweep UCO to earn series split
3/25/2007 4:00:00 AM | Baseball
EDMOND, Okla. -- The 18th-ranked ACU Wildcats bounced back from Friday's sweep by Central Oklahoma to take a pair of games from the Bronchos on Saturday in an intense Lone Star Conference crossover baseball series at Broncho Field.
The Wildcats' 7-5 and 9-7 wins on Saturday push their record to 24-8, while the Bronchos fall to 20-9-1. ACU -- which finishes LSC crossover play with an 18-4 record -- will return to action next weekend when it opens LSC South Division play at home with a four-game series against Tarleton State.
The Wildcats used the long ball on Saturday to key their doubleheader sweep of their rivals from tthe LSC North. The best example of that came in the second game of the doubleheader when ACU found itself trailing 7-5 entering the top of the sixth inning.
But reserve third baseman Sean Nourie -- getting the start in the series finale -- led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run to cut the lead to 7-6. Following an out, Matt Spotanski singled and stole second before being driven in with the game-tying run on a single by freshman William Uechi. Jordan Schmitt then followed with his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field that gave ACU a 9-7 lead.
ACU closer Jameson Maj came into the game in the sixth and threw two scoreless innings to record his eighth save of the season, setting a new school single-season record. His eight saves are also second on the ACU career list, one away from tying Jarrod Cross for the school's career mark.
The Wildcats fell behind 3-0 in the first game after a three-run home run by Breck Draper in the bottom of the first gave the Bronchos a quick lead. But Mike Elkerson answered for the Wildcats in the top of the second with a three-run blast of his own, driving in Trey Watten and Allen Smith in front of him.
ACU then went up 5-3 with two runs in the third before the Bronchos answered with a single run in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 7-5 lead. The three runs in the fifth all came in on Tyler Carroll's three-run home run to left-centerfeld.
Watten went five innings on the mound, giving up seven runs and eight hits, but he hung on long enough to get the win and improve to 5-0 on the season.
The Wildcats had to rally in the first game Saturday as well after the Bronchos took a 3-1 lead after the first inning a three-run rally that was keyed by Carroll's two-run single. ACU cut the lead to 4-3 in the fourth on a two-run single by Matt McGuire, and then took a 5-4 lead in the fifth on RBI singles by Watten and McGuire.
After UCO tied the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth the Wildcats scored the eventual game-winning run in the sixth when Elkerson led off the inning with a solo home run. ACU added an insurance run when Travis Catalani drove in Alec Sowards with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly.
Brian Kennedy gave up eight hits and five runs over five innings, but picked up the win to improve to 5-1 on the season. Maj earned a save in the first game with one inning of scoreless work that saw him strike out two UCO hitters.
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