ABILENE – Abilene Christian begins the final week of its 2013 regular season with a Tuesday afternoon game vs. South Central Region rival Texas-Permian Basin of the Heartland Conference. First pitch at Crutcher Scott Field is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
ACU leads its all-time series vs. the Falcons, 12-1, with its only loss being a 7-6 decision near the start of the 2011 season. The Wildcats won last year's game, 11-1.
Permian Basin is the Wildcats' first non-conference opponent since Delta State came town in mid-March and split a Spring Break series with the Wildcats. ACU is 12-9 overall in non-conference games, which includes three weekend splits, a 10-2 win at McMurry and series victory over Bellarmine.
ACU is coming off a tough weekend in Stephenville, where the Texans won three of four vs. the Wildcats in pushing their conference lead over ACU, Kingsville and Angelo State to 3.0 games. The Texans had a chance to win their first LSC title Sunday, but ACU prevented the Tarleton sweep thanks to 8.0 solid innings from
Ty Taylor and a three-run home run off the bat of
Reed Watson.
Taylor improved to 5-4 on the year with the victory as he struck out seven and picked off two baserunners, while scattering eight hits.
Brady Rodriguez finished the game for Taylor with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Catcher/designated hitter
Rodge Macy drove in the most runs vs. Tarleton State with five and scored three of his team's runs. Macy doubled in a couple insurance runs in the eighth inning of game four, and earlier reached on the second baseman's error that kept the inning alive for Watson's home run.
Elsewhere at the plate,
Seth Spivey scored three times to move into fourth place in the LSC with 41 runs.
The Falcons recently dropped a three-game series vs. Newman and come to Abilene tomorrow with an overall record of 14-27 and 9-21 mark vs. the Heartland Conference.
Neil Madsen leads all UT-PB hitters with a .318 batting average, while Jordyn Van Atta has the Falcons' most home runs with three.
UT-PB's pitching staff carries a respectable team ERA of 3.90, however, without much run support this season many of their hurlers have been burdened with losing records despite having individual ERAs of under 3.60. Travis Wilcox has his team's most strikeouts with 54, but is also 1-7 with a 3.35 ERA through 83.1 innings of work, while Nick Duffield (3.58 ERA, 43 Ks) is 2-6.
Brett Rogers is the Falcons' ace with a 6-5 record, 20 Ks and 2.54 ERA.
Pack The Park Set For April 27
Abilene Christian University Students' Association and ACU Athletics present their inaugural Pack The Park event, which will take place Saturday, April 27 at 2 p.m. vs. Angelo State.
Pack The Park will feature 2013-14 Student Body President Dylan Benac throwing out the first pitch, and the first 150 students in attendance will receive a free 'The Crutch - Pack The Park' tank top.
Free ACU rally towels also will be given away as will some food off the grill, plus snacks and drinks.
