STEPHENVILLE –
Will Calhoun had a two-run single in the eighth inning Friday night and
Zach Sneed hurled three scoreless innings in relief as the ACU Wildcats snapped a four-game losing streak with an 8-5 win over Tarleton State in Lone Star Conference baseball action at Cecil Ballow Field.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 13-9 overall and 6-7 in the LSC, while the Texans fall to 16-6 and 11-5. The teams will conclude their three-game series Saturday with a doubleheader at 3 p.m.
ACU had a 5-2 lead after a
Cameron Bankston grand slam in the top of the fourth inning, but the Texans battled back to tie the game with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth.
But those were the last runs they would score as Calhoun – who started on the mound and went five innings – gave way to
Kevin Justice (one inning) and Sneed, who combined to pitch four innings of shutout baseball out of the bullpen.
In the top of the eighth,
Cameron Watten led off with a single and went to third on a double by
Ian Tomkins. But after a line out and strikeout, it appeared the Texans might escape the inning without any damage.
But Watten then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-5 and
Reed Watson and
Aaron Oliver walked to load the bases for Calhoun, who singled through the hole into left field to drive in Watson and Tomkins to make it 8-5. Sneed finished the job from there as he worked around a one-out single in the eight and a two-out walk in the ninth to pick up the victory, improving to 3-1 on the season.
