ABILENE -- The ACU Wildcats had the nation's No. 2 team on the ropes for much of their game Monday night at Crutcher Scott Field before the TCU Horned Frogs used their speed and bullpen to sneak out of town with a 4-3 win over the Wildcats.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 8-21 overall, while the Frogs improve to 24-6. ACU will return to Southland Conference action this weekend with a three-game series (Friday-Sunday) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The loss drops ACU's record to 2-6 in one-run games as TCU improves to 18-1 all-time against ACU. The teams are scheduled to play twice more this year in Fort Worth, the first time on April 22 and second time on May 12.
Behind a terrific effort from starting pitcher
Thomas Altimont, ACU fought back from an early 2-run deficit to tie the game and then took a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning before the Frogs used their speed to get the lead and their bullpen to close out the win.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Garrett Crain singled into left field to put the tying run on base for TCU. A perfectly placed hit-and-run single to left field by Jeremie Fagnan sent Crain to third base and gave the Frogs the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
TCU then pulled off a squeeze bunt with Zack Plunkett dropping down a bunt right in front of the plate that Altimont fielded and threw to first for the out while Crain scored with the tying run. With two outs, Altimont coaxed a slow roller to second baseman
Russell Crippen out of leadoff man Cody Jones.
Crippen didn't charge the ball and Jones -- the fastest man on the field -- legged out an infield hit. While the ACU defense relaxed on the play, Fagnan never stopped running, scoring all the way from second to give the Frogs a 4-3 lead.
Armed with a 4-3 lead, TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle turned the game over to his bullpen, which is the anchor of one of the top pitching staffs in the nation. Travis Evans, Preston Guillory and closer Riley Ferrell each pitched one perfect inning to close the game.
"I'm proud of my guys and the way they played against the No. 2 team in the country," ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau said. "We've made a lot of improvement in every aspect of our team over the last few weeks, and I'm proud of the way they represented Abilene and ACU."
TCU scored two runs -- only one earned -- in the top of the first against Altimont, but that would be all the offense the Frogs would muster for the next five innings. Over that span, Altmont retired eight straight at one point and allowed only baserunner to reach second base.
"I thought Thomas was outstanding (Monday)," Bonneau said. "He went after their guys and got ahead in counts. When you can do that, it makes it much easier to get in and out of innings."
After giving up the two runs in the top of the first inning, ACU answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first. With one and
Colton Hall on first after a single,
Tyler Eager shot a two-strike single into left field to give ACU runners at first and third.
Heath Beasley then bounced a hit-and-run single into right field to drive in Hall and move Eager to third base. The Wildcats then took advantage of a throwing error by TCU pitcher Brian Howard on a pickoff attempt as his throw to first got away, sending Eager to the plate to tie the game, 2-2.
Eager then led off the third with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out single to center by Crippen. TCU's pitching staff, however, took over after that as four TCU relievers combined to strike out eight Wildcats and give up just three hits and no runs.
