Baseball | 2/22/2015 4:16:00 PM
Box Score EDINBURG – ACU gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh and the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday as the Wildcats dropped a 4-3 decision to Texas-Pan American in the final game of a three-game series at Edinburg Baseball Stadium.
The loss gives the Broncs (5-2) a three-game sweep of the Wildcats, who are now 0-6 on the season. The Wildcats are scheduled to be back home Tuesday against nationally ranked Texas Tech for a 4 p.m. game at Crutcher Scott Field. ACU is then at Texas-Arlington for a 6:30 p.m. game Wednesday before returning home this weekend to host Northern Colorado in a three-game series.
The Wildcats trailed UTPA and starting pitcher Robert Quinonez 1-0 through six innings before finally breaking through with three runs in the top of the seventh to tae a 3-1 lead.
Garrett Hale got the Wildcats' inning started when he reached base on an error and then scored on a double by freshman
Brayden Gomez to tie the game at 1-1. Sophomore first baseman
Russell Crippen then tripled home Gomez to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Quinonez was then lifted in favor of Matt Rigby, who gave up a sacrifice fly RBI to
Kyle Carroll as the Wildcats took a 3-1 lead.
ACU starting pitcher
Garrett deMeyere went the first four innings and gave up one run on six hits before giving way to
Kevin Sheets, who pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth innings. However, given a 3-1 lead, Sheets gave up a hit by pitch, a single, threw a wild pitch and then gave up an RBI single before being lifted in favor of
Ladgie Zotyka. The Broncs got the tying run in when Zotyka got a double-play ground ball and he got out of the inning with a strikeout.
In the eighth inning, ACU had runners on first and second with one out, but couldn't get a run across as the Wildcats left two runners on base and failed to take advantage of two UTPA errors in the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, UTPA manufactured a run when Logan Landon led off with a single and then went to second on a groundout to first base by Scott Mercer. Landon then went to third on a wild pitch by Zotyka and scored on a sacrifice fly to Correy Davis to give the Broncs a 4-3 lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Wildcats immediately got the tying run on base when Crippen singled to center, but the next batter,
Kyle Carroll, was ruled out on batter's interference for the first out of the inning.
Aaron Draper then singled to center field to push Crippen to second and that brought on UTPA closer Andrew Padron. He struck out
Jeff Clarke for the second out and then coaxed a ground ball out from
Tyler Eager to end the game and pick up his third save of the season.
Prior to Sunday's game, the ACU bullpen had thrown 26.2 innings this season and allowed just 17 hits and 10 runs (eight earned) for a 2.70 ERA through the season's first six games. But Sunday, Sheets and Zotyka combined to allow three hits and three runs in four innings of work as Zotyka was tagged with the loss.
Gomez finished the day 2 for 4 with one run scored and an RBI, while Crippen finished 3 for 4 with one run scored and one RBI.
