ABILENE -- For the second time in the last eight days, the ACU Wildcats took one of the country's best teams right down to the wire. But again the Wildcats were denied their first win over a top-25 program, this time by the 19th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Texas Tech -- making its first appearance in Abilene to play ACU since April 20, 1976 -- scored a run in the top of the ninth and then wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth to escape Crutcher Scott Field with a 7-6 win over the Wildcats. The win was the second one-run win of the season for Tech over ACU, including the Red Raiders' 6-5 16-inning marathon victory on March 3 in Lubbock.
Last Monday night at Crutcher Scott Field, the Wildcats led No. 2 TCU for much of the game before falling, 4-3, to the Horned Frogs.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 8-25 overall, while Texas Tech improves to 23-14. The road doesn't get any easier for the Wildcats who will leave late Wednesday morning to travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M, the top-ranked team in the country. The game will mark the first time the Wildcats will have faced the No. 1-ranked NCAA Division I team in the country.
ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau's troops have played soundly in three matchups this season against two of the best teams in Texas (TCU and Texas Tech), having been outscored 17-14 in three one-run losses. Now the Wildcats get to test themselves against the best team in the state and the country in the Aggies as they continue their effort to pick up a signature win over an in-state team for a program in its second year of transition to NCAA Division I affiliation.
The Wildcats certainly had their chances to make that happen Tuesday night against the Red Raiders. Each team scored two runs in the second and third innings before scored two more in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead. The big blow in the inning came off the bat of Tanner Gardner, whose solo home run banged off the scoreboard in right field to give Tech a 5-4 lead.
ACU answered with a run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by
Taylor Waters to make it 6-5, but neither team could score in the seventh or eighth innings. The Wildcats had a great opportunity in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn't get the tying run across the plate, despite putting the first two batters of the inning on base.
With two on and no outs,
Kyle Carroll tried to bunt, but his attempt came on a pitch up and in and it was popped up to the third baseman (Gardner), who made the catch for the first out. He then wheeled and threw back to the shortstop covering the bag at second to double off pinch-runner
Garrett Hale for a double play.
Aaron Draper then grounded out to end the inning and the Wildcat threat.
Tech strung together three straight singles in the top of the ninth to score what proved to be the winning run when Gardner singled home Hunter Hargrove to give the Red Raiders a 7-5 lead.
But ACU wouldn't go away.
Facing Tech closer Dominic Moreno,
Tyler Eager walked with one out and went to second on a single to right field by
Russell Crippen. Freshman outfielder
Marcelle Carter then pulled a single into left field and Eager scored to make it a 7-6 game.
Chris Altimont -- who was 3 for 5 with three RBI on the night -- then singled sharply into right field, but it was hit too hard for Crippen to try and score, so the bases were loaded with one out and the Wildcats trailing just 7-6.
Pinch-hitter
Alex Copeland came on and dropped a perfect squeeze bunt down the first base line that hugged the chalk for a few seconds before it just dribbled foul and was scooped up by Tech first baseman Eric Gutierrez for a strike. On the next pitch, Copeland fouled out to Gutierrez for the second out of the inning. Moreno then got
Colton Hall to fly out to left field for the final out of the game as he earned his fifth save.
The loss dropped the Wildcas to 2-8 in one-run games in 2015 and 3-14 in games decided by two runs or less.
ACU freshman
Drew Hanson got the start on the mound and he went 4 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and six runs while walking three and striking out five Red Raiders. He was tagged with the loss to fall to 1-1. ACU's bullpen -- including normal Friday starter
Garrett deMeyere -- held Tech to one run and just three hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.
Waters had three hits and drove in a run for the Wildcats, while Crippen and Carter each had a pair of hits for ACU.
After the road game against Texas A&M on Wednesday, ACU will return to Crutcher Scott Field for a weekend series against Sam Houston State, which beat Texas, 5-0, Tuesday night in Austin to extend its winning streak to six straight. The series is ACU's first weekend series at home since March 20-22 after three straight weekends on the road. First pitch of the first game is set for 6 p.m. Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. game Saturday and a 1 p.m. game Sunday.
