ACU Splits; Miss LSC Tournament

Friday, April 29

Weatherford, OK

1 pm

Abilene Christian

Southwestern Oklahoma

Photo by: Jeremy Enlow

4/29/2011 11:40:57 PM | Baseball

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – For the first time since 1997 the ACU baseball team will be absent from the Lone Star Conference Tournament after splitting with Southwestern Oklahoma on Friday taking game one, 17-6 before falling in game two, 17-13 at the SWOSU Baseball Field.

The Wildcats sit at 24-22 overall and 16-16 in league play as they will attempt to finish over .500 in the conference. Since 1998 ACU has appeared in every LSC Tournament with the exception of 2005 when there was no tournament and will be only the second time that the Wildcats have not appeared in the championship game, with the other coming during the 2004 season.

In game one the Wildcat bats came out swinging as they recorded a season high 21 hits. The Wildcats were led offensively by Duncan Blades who went 4-for-5 with seven RBIs, one shy of an ACU single game record. Blades was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, as he hit two home runs and a double, and scored four times.

ACU also got a solid offensive performance from Will Calhoun who also had four hits to help his cause on the mound where he picked up his seventh win. Calhoun threw five innings scattering six hits and allowing four runs and striking out four to improve to 7-1 on the year.

The Bulldogs' bats showed up in game three to go toe to toe with the Wildcats as both teams combined for 39 hits and 30 runs. However, the Wildcats come up on the short-end falling 13-17 as three costly errors spelled doom in the end.

Duncan Blades added three more hits and three more RBIs, but Sky Valenzuela had the offensive highlight in the night cap going 4-for-4.

The Wildcats took a 12-9 lead into the sixth inning, however a six run bottom of the sixth for SWOSU gave the Bulldogs a 15-12 lead they would not relinquish. SWOSU would add two more runs in the seventh for insurance, as the Wildcats could not mount a comeback in the eighth scoring only one more run over the final four innings.

Cameron Watten pitched 4.1 innings giving up nine runs on 14 hits, however he was still on the hook for the win. Kris Carlson picked up the loss as he came on in the sixth allowing two runs although neither was earned.

The Wildcats will close out their season at noon on Saturday against the Bulldogs in Weatherford, Oklahoma.