ABILENE -- The old adage around sports is that sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Fortunately for the ACU Wildcats, they were both on Saturday in a doubleheader sweep of Cameron in Lone Star Conference baseball action at Crutcher Scott Field.
The good came in the form of starting pitchers
Carter Hahn and
Aaron Lambrix, who dominated Aggie hitters for most of the afternoon. Hahn went the distance in the first game, pitching ACU to a 2-1 win.
In the nightcap, Lambrix went 6 2/3 innings, but didn't get the decision in a game the Wildcats used some old-fashioned luck to pull out by the score of 4-3.
In the second game, ACU appeared to be on its way to a second straight 2-1 win before two hits and two errors in the top half of the inning sent Lambrix to the showers and ACU to the bottom of the seventh trailing 3-2.
But with one out in the bottom of the seventh,
Kyle Giusti worked a walk against Cameron pitcher Brian Schwabe to bring
Kyle Conwell to the plate as the game-winning run. Schwabe walked Conwell, who was replaced on the bases by pinch-runner
Mason Smith.
Travis Schuetze then stepped in against Schwabe and ripped a single to left field to plate Giusti with the game-tying run and move Smith into scoring position as the game-winning run.
Pinch-hitter
Ryan Luckie then came to the plate and worked the count full before striking out swinging for the second out. But ACU had the runners moving to stay out of a potential inning-ending double play, and that led to the bit of luck that gave the Wildcats the win.
Cameron catcher Tyler Cox came up throwing to third to try and cut Smith down to end the inning, but his throw sailed high into left field and Smith scored easily to give the Wildcats a 4-3 win.
Lambrix cruised through most of his start and carried a 2-1 lead into the top of the seventh when things fell apart.
With pinch-hitter Brad Blumer facing Lambrix as the Aggies' last hope, he quickly fell behind in the count. With two strikes he lifted a pop foul near the screen that was playable for either ACU catcher
Emmett Niland or first baseman
Tyler Eager.
Niland made the call but not the catch as the ball popped out of his glove to give the Aggies new life. Blumer took advantage as he plugged the gap in left-centerfield with the next pitch for an RBI double that drove in pinch-runner Dillon Leveille with the tying run.
That was all for Lambrix, who deserved a better fate after pitching 6 2/3 innings and giving up just three hits and one earned run.
Brady Rodriguez came into the game and surrendered a walk to Keaton Green and then gave up an RBI single to Kaz Sanders that plated pinch-runner Ronnie Currey with the go-ahead run. After an intentional walk, Rodriguez got Kenny Acosta to ground into an inning-ending fielder's choice to set up the Wildcats' heroics in the bottom of the seventh.
Hahn was dominant in the first game as he allowed just four hits and one walk in seven complete innings while striking out nine Aggies. He only faced six batters over the minimum and from the end of the third through the top of the seventh he retired 12 of 13 batters he faced.
In the top of the seventh, he gave up a pair of two-out singles before getting Kevin Lum to foul out to Giusti at third base to end the game.
ACU posted single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take the lead, and that was all Hahn needed as he improved to 7-2 with the victory. In the fourth, Giusti led off with a single and went to second on a Conwell groundout.
Rodge Macy then drove him in with a single to tie the game at 1-1.
In the fifth,
Heath Beasley led off with a single and went to second on a throwing error by shortstop Colton Davis. He moved to third on a short single by
Seth Spivey and then scored the eventual game-winning run on a wild pitch by Steve Matta.
The Wildcats are now 24-16 overall and 12-7 in the LSC, while the Aggies fall to 11-24 and 5-14. ACU and Cameron will complete the four-game series Sunday with a single game at 1 p.m. The Wildcats will be trying to win their fourth LSC series in five tries.
