ABILENE -- After back-to-back dramatic victories in their final at-bat, the stage was set once again for another come-from-behind win by the ACU Wildcats in their home finale.
But Saturday afternoon at Crutcher Scott Field, Incarnate Word re-wrote the script from the previous two days and held on for a tense 9-8 win over the Wildcats.
The Wildcats used a
Heath Beasley home run in the 12th inning Thursday to win the first game of the series and a four-run bottom of the ninth rally Friday to take the second game of the series. And in Saturday's series finale -- after UIW scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 9-7 lead -- the stage was set for another walk-off win for the Wildcats.
With two outs,
Heath Beasley singled and
Taylor Fajardo walked to put the tying runs on base.
Alex Copeland then singled to drive in Beasley to make it 9-8 and send pinch-runner
Chris Altimont to third with the tying run. Copeland went to second on the throw and suddenly the Wildcats had the game-winning run just 180 feet away from the plate.
But Chris Jones closed the door on the Wildcats' comeback hopes with a strikeout of
Colton Hall to end the game.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 15-36 overall and they finish Southland play at 13-17, more than doubling their win total from their inaugural season of 2014 when they went 6-18 in conference play. The Cardinals, meanwhile, finish their season at 20-31 and 11-19. Like the Wildcats, the Cardinals just completed their second season of transition to NCAA Division I affiliation.
ACU will finish up its season in Arizona next week with games against No. 12 Arizona State (Tuesday in Tempe, Ariz.), Arizona (Thursday and Friday in Tucson, Ariz.), and Hawaii (Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.).
Just like in Friday's contest, Incarnate Word put up a big inning with four runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead over the Wildcats. But ACU bounced back with two runs in the fifth on an RBI single by
Tyler Eager and an RBI double by
Russell Crippen. Eager -- starting his 174th straight game and playing in his final home game as a Wildcat -- had a solo home run in his first at-bat and finished the game 2 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored as he pushed his batting average to a team-best .302 on the season.
Those two runs cut the UIW lead to 7-5, and ACU tacked on two more in the sixth on a two-run single by
Aaron Draper to knot the game at 7-7. ACU relief pitcher Kevin Sheeets shut down the Cardinals in the seventh and innings, but reliever
Ladgie Zotyka immediately got into trouble in the ninth when he gave up a hit, a fielder's choice, a walk and a two-run single to put the Cardiansl up 9-7.
Nick Palacios came on and kept the Cardinals from doing any other damage, but the two runs were more than the Wildcats could make up on Saturday.
