SAN ANGELO -- The ACU Wildcats got the help they needed from rival Tarleton State on Saturday, but they couldn't help themselves at Angelo State.
The Rams -- needing a pair of wins over their rivals to win the Lone Star Conference championship -- got exactly that at Foster Field as they beat the Wildcats, 14-2 and 4-2, to secure the conference title and the No. 1 seed for next week's LSC Post-Season tournament, which will be played in San Angelo.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, continued to scuffle along, falling below .500 (24-25 overall) this late in the season for the first time since 1995, the program's last sub-.500 finish (17-36).
With Tarleton State sweeping Cameron and securing a spot in the tournament on Saturday, the Wildcats needed just one win on Saturday in order to clinch a spot in the tournament. But they couldn't get as they managed to score just four runs and collect seven hits. In three losses this weekend at Angelo State, the Wildcats have been outscored 34-4 and out-hit 42-12.
ACU will go into Sunday's regular-season finale (2 p.m. start) needing a win or a Cameron loss at home against Tarleton State to claim the final spot in the tournament. An ACU loss and Cameron win would throw the final spot into a tiebreaker, and right now there are too many scenarios still alive to know which team would claim the final spot in the field.
The Rams were leading 3-0 in the first game before a seven-run outburst in the fifth inning pushed the led to 10-0. They put the finishing touches on the game in the sixth with four more runs.
Starter Jordan Herrera was tagged with the loss after giving up 10 hits and eight runs (seven earned) in four innings.
Michael Curtis gave up six hits and six runs (five earned) in just one inning of work out of the bullpen.
ACU took a 1-0 lead in the second game when
Kyle Conwell scored on a
Reed Watson sacrifice fly in the secon dinning. But the Rams answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning to go up 3-1.
Reliever Austin Church entered the game in the fourth when ACU had the bases loaded and a run in, but he struck out
Emmett Niland and
Luke Mejia to end the inning and keep the Rams in the lead. Church, in fact, allowed just one hit in 3 1/3 innings of solid relief.
ACU had runners at first and second with two outs in the top of the seventh, but Mike Weatherly came on to strike out
Duncan Blades looking for the final out of the game, picking up his ninth save of the season in the process.
Austin Palmer pitched well for ACU, sccattering eight hits over six innings and striking out five Rams.
