ABILENE -- The sixth-ranked ACU Wildcats haven't had many games this season where they were pushed to the brink before they were able to pull out a close win.
The two games they played -- and won -- Saturday against Cameron not only helped them finish off a sweep of the Aggies, but it also proved they could win a close, low-scoring game. Two, in fact.
The Wildcats rallied for late for both wins Saturday, scoring once in the bottom of the fifth for a 4-3 win in the opener, and then scoring two unlikely runs in the bottom of the eighth of the second game to take a 3-2 win that completed the four-game sweep of the Lone Star Conference series at Crutcher Scott Field.
The two wins on Saturday push the Wildcats to 38-8 overall and 25-7 in the LSC, while the Aggies fall to 23-16 and 21-13. ACU is in first place in the LSC and leads second-place Southeastern Oklahoma State (21-13) by five games with eight conference games to play.
ACU will return to action Tuesday for a single game at St. Edward's on Tuesday before heading to Weatherford, Okla., next weekend for a four-game LSC set against Southwestern Oklahoma State. ACU can clinch the No. 1 seed in the LSC Post-Season Tournament a sweep of the Bulldogs and one Angelo State win over Southeastern Oklahoma State.
Prior to the weekend's four-game series against Cameron the Wildcats were only 6-6 on the season in games decided by three runs or less, including 3-4 in one-run games. But ACU got its fill of close games against the Aggies as the Wildcats won 4-2 and 5-1 on Friday and 4-3 and 3-2 on Saturday, pushing their record to 9-6 in games decided by three runs or less and 5-4 in one-run games.
Much like Friday, ACU's offense was held in check by Cameron starting pitchers Logan Grimes and Jerry A'Hearn as the nation's No. 2 team in batting average managed just 11 hits combined in the douleheader.
But it wasn't the number of hits the Wildcats managed to get, but their timeliness that counted.
In the second game, A'Hearn dominated the Wildcats for 6 1/3 innings before
Clint Bowker's one-out double finally seemed to spark ACU. After a flyout by
Ian Tomkins,
Steve Camillucci lashed a double to left to plate Bowker and cut Cameron's lead to 2-0.
Then in the bottom of the eighth,
Aaron Oliver led off with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Willie Uechi. But after a flyout by Will Calhoun, Bret Bochsler fell into an 0-2 hole. After battling back to run the count even at 2-2, he was hit by A'Hearn to put runners at first and second.
Ryan Luckie -- who replaced
Travis Latz in the fifth -- then came up and drove a 2-1 fastball from A'Hearn into the right field corner for a triple that plated both Oliver and Bochsler to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.
That was all ACU closer
Brad Rutherford needed as he retired the Aggies in the top of the ninth to finish off the sweep and record his third save of the weekend and eighth of the season.
Calhoun pitched maybe his best game of the season, giving up just three hits and two runs while striking out six batters in seven innings. He left the game trailing 2-0 and gave way to
Josh Crockett, who picked up the win as he pushed his recored to 6-1.
In the first game the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead as they got a run in the first on a Bochsler RBI single and two more in the second on a wild pitch that scored
Cameron Bankston and an RBI single by
Aaron Oliver.
But Cameron tied the game against ACU starting pitcher
Aaron Lambrix with three runs in the third. The big blast in the inning was a two-run home run to left field by Tom Dicker that tied the game at 3-3.
ACU, though, played small ball to perfection in the fifth when the Wildcats picked up the game-winning run.
Oliver led off the fifth against Grimes with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Uechi. Calhoun dumped a single into center that moved Oliver to third. Bochsler then executed the safety squeeze to perfection, dropping a bunt down between the pitcher's mound and first base, allowing Oliver to score the go-ahead run.
Lambrix breezed through the sixth, and despite giving up a two-out single in the seventh, Rutherford retired the Aggies without giving up a run as the Wildcats were able to nail down the one-run win.
