ABILENE – Coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of nationally ranked Oklahoma State and staring at a three-game homestand this weekend against Southeastern Louisiana, the ACU Wildcats needed a pick-me-up Monday afternoon at Crutcher Scott Field.
Enter Texas-Permian Basin, whom the Wildcats feasted on to the tune of a 10-0 non-conference victory. The Wildcats' old NCAA Division II foe provided little resistance as ACU pounded out 18 hits, scored in six of eight innings in which it hit and struck out 11 Falcon hitters en route to the easy victory.
The win pushes ACU to 9-7 on the season, while the Falcons fall to 8-16. The Wildcats will host the Lions this weekend in a three-game set at Crutcher Scott Field that begins at 6 p.m. Friday and continues at 2 p.m. Saturday before finishing up at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, and that was more than enough for starting pitcher
Nate Cole, who gave up five hits and struck out five batters in five scoreless innings en route to his first win of the season. Three ACU relief pitchers –
Nick Palacios,
David Ruot and
Brandon Lambright – gave up just three hits and one walk over the final four innings as the Wildcats won via shutout for the second time this season.
ACU scored two more runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth to make it 7-0 before finishing up the scoring with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to make it 10-0. The Falcons had their chances, however, as they left 11 runners on base, including two in the second, two in the third and three in the seventh.
The Wildcats' lead was 7-0 in the top of the seventh when Palacios gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out. But he got the next two Falcons swinging and then got an inning-ending groundout to end the Falcons' best threat of the game and keep the Wildcats' lead at seven.
ACU also left 11 runners on base, but still did enough damage to win by its largest margin of the season.
Austin Call had a three-run triple in the first inning, while
Russell Crippen was 2 for 2 with two RBI. Freshman
Hunter Markwardt went 2 for 4 with one RBI and two runs scored and fellow freshman
Mark Pearson was 3 for 5 with one RBI. Freshman catcher
Conner Nichols was 2 for 3 with one RBI and one run scored, posting the first extra-base hit, run and RBI of his career.
