ABILENE – The No. 27 Wildcat baseball team will play host to Lone Star Conference rivals Cameron, Eastern New Mexico, and Tarleton State this weekend for the ACU/Whitten Inn Classic at Crutcher Scott Field; however, none of the games will count in the conference standings.
Action takes place Friday through Sunday with neutral-site contests scheduled for 1:05 p.m. and Wildcat home games slated for 6:05 p.m. ACU will first take on Eastern New Mexico (6-5), and then battle Cameron (10-5) Saturday before facing Tarleton State (5-5) in the Sunday night finale.
The Texans tallied 126 points with one first-place nod to finish second in the Lone Start Conference preseason poll voting, while the Aggies were third with 105 points and two top votes. Angelo State and ACU tied for fourth place with 91 points, and Eastern New Mexico rounded out the poll with 25 points.
The Wildcats – who have yet to play a road game – have started the season by winning or splitting all four of their weekend series, including last week's vs. East Central. ACU began the series with a 6-5 comeback victory in game one, but then lost both ends of Saturday's doubleheader by scores of 5-3 and 11-6. The Wildcats' rallied again late in game four to win 5-2.
ACU scored 20 runs and batted .284 against a solid rotation of ECU starting pitchers. Ten of the Wildcats' 33 hits went for extra bases, including three doubles by infielder
Duncan Blades, and the first ACU home run for designated hitter
Kyle Conwell.
Blades led the Wildcats with a .538 batting average as he went 7 for 13 with three runs, four RBI and a stolen base to extend his current hitting streak to six games. Three other regulars also hit .300 or better for the series, including catcher
Emmett Niland, who slowed the Tigers' base runners down with two pickoffs.
ECU entered last weekend with 35 thefts, but recorded only one all series on two attempts while being picked off five times. Left-handed reliever
Brady Rodriguez was credited with two picks in game one, and
Austin Palmer recorded his first of the season in Sunday's start.
Rodriguez appeared in all four games vs. the Tigers and went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and two strikeouts through 4.1 innings of work.
A native of Plymouth, Mich., Rodriguez earned Friday's victory, pitching in relief of starter
Aaron Lambrix. Rodriguez entered the game in the sixth right after the Tigers had taken a 5-2 lead on a three-run home run, but he quickly quelled their threat by picking a runner (Jeremy Stein) off first base. He then picked his second runner off base the following inning, and retired the side in order in the eighth.
ACU's offense responded in kind to Rodriguez' efforts by scoring two runs on his behalf, giving him his second victory of the year.
Rodriguez continued his mastery of the Tiger lineup in game four, escaping a two-on, two-out jam in the seventh with a fly ball to center, followed by a scoreless eighth inning of work as ACU clung to a 3-2 lead.
Additional pitchers of note from last weekend include starters Palmer, who struck out three over 5.0 innings, and Lambrix, who punched out six. Closer
Josh Stone saved game one in relief of Rodriguez, and earned the win in game four.
Michael Curtis recorded his second save of the year after holding ECU to two ninth-inning singles in game four.
Live stats links are available for all six of this weekend's games and can be found on the ACU baseball schedule page at ACUSports.com.
