ABILENE -- The 12th-ranked ACU Wildcats ran their winning streak to six games Friday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep of rival Angelo State in the first two games of a Lone Star Conference baseball series at Crutcher Scott Field.
ACU took the first game 5-0 before winning the second game, 10-0, via the 10-run rule.
The two wins push ACU to 26-7 overall and 16-6 in the LSC, while the scuffling Rams fall to 19-16 and 13-13. The series will wrap up Saturday with another doubleheader set to start at 3:05 p.m.
Angelo State has been shut out in its last 28 straight innings at ACU, covering two seasons and four games. ACU beat the Rams 7-1 in the second round of last year's conference tournament with the Rams going the final three innings without scoring.
ACU then shut out the Rams 6-0 in the championship game before three ACU pitchers combined for a pair of shutouts (5-0 in seven innings and 10-0 in seven innings) on Friday. The Rams, in fact, have been outscored 36-3 in their last five games at ACU dating back to the 2008 conference tournament.
ACU starting pitchers
Cameron Aspaas and
Zach Sneed and closer
Brad Rutherford combined to hold the Rams to just six hits in the doubleheader, two against Aspaas, one against Rutherford and three against Sneed.
Aspaas went six innings in the opener, allowing just two hits and two walks on his way to the win, pushing his record to 4-2. In the nightcap, Sneed went all seven innings, giving up just three hits and two walks while striking out five batters to improve to 6-0 on the season.
The Rams committed five errors in the doubleheader -- four in the second game alone -- and it was Clay Puckett's error at first in the fourth inning of Game 2 that opened the floodgates.
Bret Bochsler led off the inning by pulling a ball hard down the first base line. The ball drilled Puckett in the glove, but it popped out and rolled into foul territory to put Bochsler on via the errors.
After a sacrifice bunt by
Cameron Watten,
Cameron Bankston walked before
Travis Latz singled to drive in Bochsler to make it 1-0.
Abe Williams then reached on an infield single to load the bases for
Chris Hall.
The Wildcats tried to squeeze a run in, but Hall's bunt went right back to pitcher Scott Crook, who flipped to the catcher at the plate for the force out.
Aaron Oliver made it all okay, however, when he lined a three-run triple into the gap in right-centerfield to push the Wildcats' lead to 4-0.
ACU added three more runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Latz, a sacrifice fly by Williams and a steal of the plate by Bankston on a double steal.
The Wildcats then ended it on the run rule in the bottom of the seventh as they took advantage of more poor ASU defense to score three more unearned runs.
With one out, Watten reached on an error by Nick Adams before Bankston walked. Latz then singled to drive in Watten for his third RBI of the game and pushing ACU's lead to 8-0.
After Williams reached ona fielder's choice, Hall singled to drive in Latz to make it 9-0. Oliver then delivered a two-out single to plate Williams with the 10th and final run of the game.
ACU broke on top in the second inning of the first game as the Wildcats put up three runs on RBI singles by Hall and Oliver and an RBI double by Willie Uechi.
That was more than enough for Aspaas, who needed just 95 pitches to mow through the ASU lineup. Only two batters reached third base in the game, and Aspaas retired 11 of the last 13 men he faced.
Hall tacked on the final two runs of the game with his two-run single in the bottom of the sixth plated Bankston and Latz to make it 5-0.
