TUCSON, Ariz. – Two nights after a solid overall performance in ACU's 4-1 loss to 12th-ranked Arizona State in Tempe, the ACU Wildcats were a shell of that team in a 9-0 loss to unranked Arizona.
ACU made a pair of errors and a couple of critical defensive mistakes and Arizona's offense kept the pressure on ACU with baseunners in every inning and six stolen bases on its way to the shutout victory over their Wildcat counterparts from Texas at Hi Corbett Field.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 15-38 on the season, while Arizona improves to 29-23. ACU and Arizona will conclude the short two-game series Friday at 6 p.m. MT (8 p.m. Abilene time) before ACU wraps up the 2015 season Saturday at 2 p.m. MT (4 p.m.) against Hawaii from Hi Corbett Field.
ACU – which has taken on some of the top of the teams in the country in 2015 and, for the most part, played them off their feet – were simply never in the game Thursday night. A key error in the second helped lead to three Arizona runs, and a pair of defensive lapses in the fourth inning helped lead to four more runs.
While the Wildcats were having their troubles defensively, the Arizona Wildcats were playing solid defense behind their redshirt freshman starting pitcher, Rio Gomez. Second baseman Scott Kingery took two hits away from
Tyler Eager with nice diving plays up the middle, and shortstop Kevin Newman took another away from him in the ninth with a great play deep in the hole, throwing Eager out by a step.
Gomez – making his first start after not going more than two innings in any of his 14 relief appearances on the season – went seven innings, allowing just two hits and four walks while striking eight Wildcats.
Aaron Draper and
Kyle Carroll had the only hits of the night for ACU: a triple for Carroll in the third and a single by Draper in the fifth as ACU was shut out for the fourth time on the season.
Nate Cole got the start and the loss for the Wildcats as he never found a rhythm. Cole allowing seven hits and seven runs (five earned) while walking five Arizona batters and striking out three. He threw 92 pitches in those four innings and left the game trailing 7-0.
