ABILENE – Just like in so many of their previous 15 games this season, the ACU Wildcats on Tuesday night were within one hit of getting their game against Alabama A&M tied or potentially taking the lead.
But like in most of those games, the Wildcats couldn't get a timely hit when they needed it, and it spelled their doom in a 9-5 loss to the Bulldogs in a non-conference game at Crutcher Scott Field. The two teams will close out their short two-game series Tuesday at 2 p.m. at ACU.
The win pushes the Bulldogs to 12-7 on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 2-14 on the season. ACU is now 1-10 in games decided by four runs or less, including 0-4 in one-run games and 0-5 in two-run games.
Despite the final four-run deficit Tuesday night, the Wildcats had their chances against the Bulldogs, despite falling behind 5-0 in the top of the first, thanks to three walks by starter
Austin Lambright, a two-run single by Andrew Utterback, a two-run double by Trea Nelson and an RBI fielder's choice by Dustin Dhanani.
Lambright (0-2) threw his first two pitches of the night for strikes and then threw 12 straight balls to load the bases and earn the hook from head coach
Britt Bonneau, who took his starter out of the game after seeing just three hitters. ACU's bullpen of
Landon Holifield,
Drew Hanson and
Nick Palacios pitched well enough to allow the Wildcats to creep back into the game.
After the Bulldogs tacked on another run in the top of the second to make it 6-0, the Wildcats got three runs back in the bottom of the second with all three coming in on
Tyler Eager's two-out, bases-clearing double to centerfield, cutting the lead to 6-3. The Bulldogs answered with a run in the fourth before ACU got a run in the fifth and one in the seventh to make it 7-5.
In the eighth inning, the Wildcats appeared to have a golden opportunity to at least cut the lead to one run and maybe tie it or take the lead when the two leadoff hitters –
Brayden Gomez and
Colton Hall – reached base on singles to give ACU runners at first and second with no outs.
That's when Utterback – Alabama A&M's right fielder and closer – came into the game from the outfield and struck out
Mason Spracklen,
Kyle Carroll and pinch-hitter
Heath Beasley to end the Wildcats' threat. Those three strikeouts – plus another one of
Cody Huson to lead off the ninth – gave Alabama A&M's pitching staff 10 strikeouts against the Wildcats, who have now struck out 164 times as a team in 148 innings of play.
The Bulldogs tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth, and despite a one-out double in the ninth by Eager, the Wildcats couldn't push a run across against Utterback, who picked up his third save of the season.
The Wildcats had their chances against the Bulldogs, but they left nine runners on base, including three in the first, one in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.
Huson – the son of former major league shortstop Jeff Huson – had one hit and scored twice in his first action with the Wildcats. Eager was 3 for 5 with three RBI, while Hall was 3 for 3 with a walk and one run scored for the Wildcats.
