ABILENE — Stephen F. Austin pounded out seven extra-base hits Saturday afternoon and scored in six of their nine at-bats as the Lumberjacks rolled past ACU, 13-4, in a Southland Conference baseball contest at Crutcher Scott Field.
With the loss, the Wildcats are now 13-27 overall and 5-15 in the league, while the 'Jacks improve to 22-21 and 10-13. The teams will wrap up the series Sunday with a 1 p.m. game at The Crutch.
The Lumberjacks had five doubles and two home runs among their 16 hits as their offense dominated the contest. Kyle Thornell was 4 for 5 with three RBI, two runs scored, two doubles and one home run, coming within a triple of hitting for the cycle.
Leadoff hitter Matthew Dickey was 3 for 6 with three runs scored, while Garrett McMullen was 3 for 5 with two RBI and Slayton Vaughan was 3 for 4. No. 9 batter Tyler Kendrick was 1 for 4 with a two-run home run in the Lumberjacks' two-run fifth inning that pushed their lead to 7-1. SFA scored two in the third, three in the fourth, two in the fifth, one in the sixth, four in the eighth and one in the ninth.
ACU's offense, meanwhile, was shackled by starting pitcher Erik Nouis, who had a perfect game through four innings and only allowed two hits and one run while striking out five Wildcats in six innings of work. The Wildcats got a single run in the fifth on an RBI single to left field by freshman
Willie Harris and added two more runs in the seventh on
Russell Crippen's two-run double.
The Wildcats' final run came home in the eighth inning when freshman
Mark Pearson flew out to centerfield to drive in
Heath Beasley with a sacrifice fly. Freshman first baseman was the only Wildcat with more than one hit as he finished 3 for 4 on the day.
Aaron Mason gave up nine hits and five runs in four innings and was saddled with the loss for ACU to fall to 5-4 on the season.
