Box Score HOUSTON --
ACU head coach Britt
Bonneau's decision to give Russell
Crippen his first career collegiate start on the mound Friday afternoon paid off in a big way as the Wildcats knocked off Houston Baptist, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game
Southland Conference series at Husky Field.
With
Nate Cole out with an undisclosed right arm (pitching arm) injury,
Bonneau held an open tryout for pitchers at practice Wednesday afternoon. After
Crippen -- who had pitched 1 2/3 innings on the season before Friday -- had a solid bullpen outing,
Bonneau decided to give him the starting nod.
Crippen -- who has started 20 games at first base and has two home runs and 12 RBI on the season -- did a fine job Friday as he went from trying to produce runs for the Wildcats to trying to prevent the Huskies from getting their offense going.
In five innings on the mound,
Crippen allowed just one run on five hits and two walks before giving way to Nick
Palacios, who pitched a scoreless sixth inning to pick up the win and improve to 1-0.
Kevin Sheets then went the final three innings to pick up his third save of the season.
Crippen -- throwing from a three-quarters delivery; not a true sidearm delivery, but not over the top -- mixed in a fastball and slider with an occasional slow
curveball to keep the Huskies off balance.
The teams were tied 1-1 through six innings before the Wildcats broke the game open with three runs in the seventh inning, two of them coming in on a two-run double by
Tyler Eager. Brandon
Grudzielanek then singled to drive in Eager to make it a 4-1 game.
Sheets took over from there, allowing just four hits and one run in the final three innings to nail down the save. The Huskies plated a two-out run in the ninth, but Sheets got No. 3 hitter Curtis Jones to fly out with the tying runs on base to end the game.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 15-23 overall and 5-8 in the
Southland, while the Huskies fall to 18-20 and 7-12. The teams will continue the series Saturday at 1 p.m. before Sunday's 2 p.m. series finale.
