TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- The ninth-ranked ACU Wildcats were forced to settle for a disappointing doubleheader split with Northeastern State in a Lone Star Conference twinbill at Rousey Field.
The Wildcats won the first game 7-1 and then blew a 6-0 lead en route to a 9-8 loss in the second game. The four-game series will conclude Sunday with a noon doubleheader.
The split leaves the Wildcats at 30-8 overall and 19-7 in the LSC, while the RiverHawks are 15-22 and 13-17.
The Wildcats appeared on their way to a doubleheader sweep after scoring five runs in the third inning of the second game to take a 6-0 lead.
Travis Latz had a three-run home run and
Cameron Bankston a solo shot to highlight the third-inning outburst.
ACU tacked on single runs in the fourth and sixth on a pair of RBI from Will Calhoun to push its lead to 8-3.
But the RiverHawks scored twice in the sixth on back-to-back RBI singles by David Zavalaph and Chris Gallegos to cut the ACU lead to 8-5.
The RiverHawks then won the game in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of two-out, two-run home runs, the last one off ACU closer
Brad Rutherford, who was tagged with the loss.
With two outs Zavala doubled and then scored on a Gallegos home run. Cale Replogle then walked before Rutherford came in. The first batter he faced was pinch-hitter Demetrius Terronezph, who hammered a two-run home run off Rutherford to give NSU a 9-8 lead.
The Wildcats couldn't mount much of an offensive threat in the top of the ninth, and they were forced to settle for the split.
Cameron Aspaas (5-2) was dominant on the mound in the first game for the Wildcats, scattering four hits over a complete-game seven-inning effort. Aspaas walked jut one and struck out seven RiverHawks on his way to the win.
Bankston had an RBI single in the second before the Wildcats tacked on four runs in the third. Bret Bochsler had a two-run homer and then
Cameron Watten added a two-run blast of his own to make it 5-0. Bochsler added another two-run shot in the fifth to make it 7-1.
