ABILENE – Abilene Christian overcame a shaky start from starter
Austin Palmer and a five-run Cardinal seventh en route to a 12-8 victory over Incarnate Word in the Lone Star Conference opener for both teams Friday night at Crutcher Scott Field.
The win improved the Wildcats' season record to 13-9 (1-0 LSC), while the Cardinals – ranked No. 24 by
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper – dropped to 14-5 (0-1 LSC). ACU is now 2-0 vs. UIW this season counting their non-conference game played in Houston's Minute Maid Park last month.
Palmer (1-2) won his first game of the year even though he came very close to not making it out of the first inning, in which he allowed two runs on five walks. However, he also struck out the side and eventually made it through the sixth inning on about 120 pitches.
Palmer allowed one more run after the first and went on to finish with nine Ks and eight walks. He also benefitted from a relentless ACU offense that clubbed 13 hits and capitalized on five UIW errors.
The Wildcats quickly erased a 2-0 deficit with four runs in the first vs. Geno Encina (3-1).
Seth Spivey led off with a single and scored on
Travis Schuetze's RBI triple to the left-field wall that extended his hitting and reached-base streaks to 14 and 22 games, respectively.
Schuetze was later thrown out at home plate for the second out, but then
Kyle Conwell reached on an error, which kept the inning alive for
Kyle Giusti, who ripped a two-run single that gave ACU the lead for good at 4-2.
Giusti finished his night 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
ACU extended its lead to 5-2 in the second behind a
Rodge Macy RBI single that scored
Tyler Eager, and then in the third, the Wildcats pushed their advantage to 8-2 as hits by Giusti,
Chuck Duarte and Spivey were coupled with three separate throwing errors by the Cardinals.
Incarnate Word got one run back in the fourth, however, its bullpen gave up three more runs between the fifth and sixth. Spivey drove in Giusti from third on a sacrifice fly to right with one out in the fifth – a run that would serve as the game-winner. Duarte then made it a 10-3 game after scoring on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Macy doubled and scored on a RBI single from pinch hitter
Keith Yorkman.
Things got tense for the Wildcats in the seventh as they allowed the Cardinals to send eight men to the plate, scoring five times. Reliever
Nick Palacios retired two of the first three batters he faced, but a single from the pinch hitter Jordan Scelfo was followed by a Giusti throwing error and a walk to leadoff man Derrick Walls that loaded the bases for John Zule.
ACU countered with relief pitcher
Emmett Niland, who promptly gave up a single to left field that got underneath the glove of Conwell. The ball rolled all the way to the wall, allowing all four runners to score, which cut the ACU lead to 11-8.
Conwell somewhat redeemed himself in his next at-bat in the eighth as he drove the ball far enough to right to score Schuetze for a much-needed insurance run.
Brady Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, but got into a little trouble in the ninth before getting Zule to fly out and end the game. The save was Rodriguez' fourth of the season.
The Wildcats and Cardinals continue their four-game series Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
