Wildcats open conference play with 11-8 win over Cardinals

Friday, March 16

San Antonio, TX

3 p.m.

Abilene Christian

Incarnate Word

Photo by: Benjamin Dishong

Wildcats open conference play with 11-8 win over Cardinals

3/17/2012 12:55:00 AM | Baseball

SAN ANTONIO – The ACU Wildcats opened Lone Star Conference play Friday with an 11-8 win over Incarnate Word at Sullivan Field.

The win pushes the Wildcats to 13-9 overall and 1-0 in the LSC, while the Cardinals fall to 5-7 and 0-1. The Wildcats and Cardinals will return to action Saturday with a doubleheader before wrapping up the series Sunday with a single game.

Friday's game was a sloppy affair as the teams combined to use nine pitchers, and they combined to give up 26 hits (13 for each team) and eight walks while the teams combined for 12 errors (five for ACU and seven for UIW).

ACU trailed 5-3 after three innings before gaining the lead with three runs in the fourth. The Wildcats then essentially put the game away with five runs in the top of the sixth to take an 11-5 lead.

In the top of the fourth, Kyle Conwell had the big hit in the Wildcats' three-run frame with a two-run home run to left field that drove in freshman Tyler Eager in front of him.

In the sixth, the Wildcats banged out five hits and took advantage of one Cardinal error. Bryce Gerhardt drove in two runs with a single back to right field, and that was followed by a two-run single by Kevin Finklea. Eager capped the scoring for the Wildcats with an RBI double to left that drove in Finklea.

Josh Stone was the final of five ACU pitchers and he picked up his fourth save of the season after throwing 1 1/3 innings and allowing just two hits and one run.