ABILENE -- The ACU Wildcats took advantage of solid pitching from their starters and relievers Friday to sweep a Lone Star Conference doubleheader from Cameron at Crutcher Scott Field.
The Wildcats won the first game, 4-2, and then came back to take the nightcap, 5-1. The two wins push the sixth-ranked Wildcats to 36-8 overall and 23-7 in the LSC, while the Aggies fall to 23-14 and 21-11. The teams will conclude the four-game series Saturday with a 2:05 p.m. doubleheader.
ACU starting pitchers
Cameron Aspaas and
Zach Sneed gave their team workmanlike efforts before giving way to outstanding relief work from
Josh Crockett,
Chay Lytle and
Brad Rutherford.
Crockett picked up the win in the first game to improve to 5-1, while Sneed remained perfect on the season as he got the win in the second game to improve to 7-0. Rutherford picked up a pair of one-inning saves to give him seven on the season.
Those five ACU pitchers allowed 18 hits in 16 innings of work, but they also struck out 12 batters and only allowed three hits. And they pitched out of a few jams, forcing the Aggies to strand 16 baserunners.
ACU's normally potent offense -- it was second in NCAA Division II baseball entering the game with a .381 team batting average -- was held mostly in check by Cameron pitchers Ricky Cramer and Clay Vanderlaan, both of whom pitched complete games.
The Wildcats were able to collect 20 hits, but couldn't deliver the knockout blow against the Aggies, despite several chances.
But the blows ACU did deliver were timely.
In the first game, the Wildcats led 2-1 after an RBI triple from
Cameron Watten in the fourth only to see the Aggies tie the game with a run in the top of the sixth.
But in the bottom of the inning, the Wildcats got the runs they needed to take the first game.
Ian Tomkins led off the bottom of the sixth with a single before replaced by pinch-runner
Sky Valenzuela.
Watten then tripled to right-centerfield to drive in Valenzuela before
Chris Hall drove a Cramer pitch to deep centerfield to drive in Watten to make it 4-2. Watten finished the game 3 for 3 with two triples and three RBI.
The Wildcats got all the runs they would need in the second game in the first inning when they plated four runs against Vanderlaan.
After
Aaron Oliver and Willie Uechi were retired to start the first, Will Calhoun reached on a single and moved to second on a balk when Vanderlaan was blown off the mound by a gust of wind. Bret Bochsler picked up an RBI when he singled to right to make it 1-0.
After
Travis Latz was hit by a pitch and
Cameron Bankston walked to load the bases, Bochsler scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
Abe Williams then delivered with a clutch two-run double to left to plate Latz and Bankston to make it 4-0.
That was all Sneed and Co. would need, although the Aggies did threaten in almost every inning.
Cameron had a runner at first and one out in the second before Keith Powell hit into an inning-ending double play. With a run in in the second and runners at second and third and two outs, cleanup hitter Alex Lyons struck out looking to end the inning.
In the fourth with two runners on and one out, Joe Halley grounded sharply into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. In the sixth, Lyons was thrown out at the plate by
Travis Latz, and Powell grounded out to Hall at second with runners at first and second to end the inning as it remained a 4-1 game.
And in the seventh, Lytle shut the door after two men reached with one out against Sneed. Lytle got a flyout and a popout to end the inning. In the eighth, Oliver threw out Nate Valdez at third base for the final out of the inning.
The Wildcats' last run of the game came in the seventh when Calhoun drove a ball into right-centerfield for an RBI double that plated Uechi to make it 5-1.
After Lytle gave way to Rutherford, the Aggies were no match for the Wildcats' closer as he mowed down the Aggies in order to finish off his seventh save of the season.
