ABILENE -- The 11th-ranked ACU Wildcats scored six runs in the top of the ninth Monday afternoon to push them to a 13-7 win over Cameron in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Championship at Crutcher Scott Field.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 45-13 and means that for the 10th time since 1999 they will play for the conference championship. ACU will play at 5 p.m. Tuesday against an opponent to be determined. If the Wildcats lose that game, the decisive if-necessary championship game will be played at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The Wildcats hammered out four home runs in the contest, including two two-run home runs by
Aaron Oliver.
Ian Tomkins and Will Calhoun each had solo home runs for the Wildcats, but it was the one by Tomkins that finally turned the momentum for the Wildcats.
With one out in the top of the ninth against Cameron starter Ricky Cramer, Tomkins ripped a line shot to left that barely cleared the wall for his third home run of the season, a solo shot that gave ACU an 8-7 lead. After
Clint Bowker grounded out for the second out, Cameron coach Todd Holland replaced Cramer with Corey Davidson.
But Davidson walked Oliver on four pitches and then watched him steal second base on his first pitch to
Chris Hall. Hall then followed with an RBI double, and he then scored on a gift double by Will Calhoun. Cameron centerfielder Codi Harshman never saw the ball of Calhoun's bat, and it dropped harmlessly in left-centerfield for an RBI double to make it 10-7.
Travis Latz then followed with an RBI single to right to score Calhoun, and then Uechi doubled in Latz to make it 12-7. Bret Bochsler capped the scoring with an RBI single to right field to drive in Uechi.
Brad Rutherford -- who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep the game tied at 7-7 going to the ninth -- gave up a pair of harmless singles in the bottom of the ninth, but struck out a pair of Texans to finish off the Aggies.
The first seven innings were a back-and-forth that saw the Wildcats take a two-run advantage on three different occasions only to see the Aggies battle back to tie or take the lead.
With the game tied at 2-2 in the second,
Clint Bowker worked a two-out walk in front of Oliver, who promptly blasted a two-run home run to left-centerfield to make it 4-2. But that was the last hit the Wildcats would get until the seventh as Cramer handcuffed the Wildcat offense.
Cramer, in fact, retired 13 of 14 batters he faced from the end of the second to the middle of the seventh. Cameron, meanwhile, was able to push two runs across in the third to tie the game at 4-4.
ACU starting pitcher
Zach Sneed didn't have the same control as Cramer as he continually worked his way into and out of trouble. Even in Cameron's two-run third he coaxed a double-play ball to keep the Aggies from more damage, and he coaxed an inning-ending double play out of Dominic Gamboa in the fourth.
In the fifth, Cameron put runners at first and second with one out before Sneed coaxed a pop out and fly out to end the frame. He also got some great defense behind him as the Wildcats turned three double plays and saw Hall turn in a beautiful play behind the bag at second base to record the final out of the sixth.
In the seventh, Bowker again worked a two-out walk against Cramer before Oliver crushed a two-run home run to left field to put the Wildcats on top 6-4.
But the Aggies answered again, and this time they answered with three runs to give them a short-lived lead.
Josh Crockett started the seventh in relief of Sneed and immediately hit Gamboa and gave up back-to-back singles to Alex Lyons and Tom Dicker, the second of which drove in Gamboa to make it 6-5. After Blake Watson was hit, Nate Valdez singled to drive in Lyons with the game-tying run. The third run of the inning scored on a double-play ball hit by Keith Powell and the Aggies took a 7-6 lead to the eighth.
But that lead lasted all of five pitches as Calhoun blasted a 3-1 pitch over the wall in left field for a solo home run to lead off the eight, tying the game at 7-7. Rutherford came on and worked a perfect eighth to set up the big ninth inning for the Wildcats.
