ABILENE -- Tuesday night's non-conference game between Texas Tech and ACU had the feel that it was just waiting for one mistake to tip the tide in favor of one team or the other.
Unfortunately for the ACU Wildcats, it was their costly mistakes over the final two innings that took away their chance to knock off the nation's seventh-ranked team.
The Red Raiders took advantage of three Wildcat errors in the final two innings to score five runs and break open a 2-2 game on their way to a 7-2 win in front of a nice crowd in the Wildcats' 2016 home finale. The loss stretches ACU's losing streak against the Red Raiders to 11 straight games dating back to 1976.
The Wildcats enter the season's final nine games (all on the road at Incarnate Word, Dallas Baptist, Northwestern State and Arizona) at 14-31 overall, while the Red Raiders improve to 38-13. ACU will be in San Antonio this weekend for a three-game Southland Conference series against the UIW Cardinals.
Tuesday night's contest was a tightly played game through seven innings that saw the Wildcats jump out to a 2-0 lead early only to see the Red Raiders battle back to the game at 2-2 in the sixth.
The Wildcats hurt themselves throughout the game on the bases where they not only eight men, but had five men thrown out at either third base or home. In the first inning,
Hunter Markwardt was thrown out trying to stretch a one-out double into a triple, cutting down a scoring chance after
Heath Beasley followed with a two-out single.
In the third,
Mark Pearson was thrown out at the plate when he broke from third on a ground ball to first base. In the sixth, pinch-runner
Chris Altimont was gunned down at the plate to end the inning on an attempted double-steal by the Wildcats.
Then came the final two innings, which spelled doom for the Wildcats.
In the top of the eighth,
Brandon Lambright came in to pitch and the second man he faced -- Cory Raley -- appeared to have hit a go-ahead solo home run with a towering shot to left field. But the third base umpire ruled that the ball went just foul and after a brief argument with Tech head coach Tim Tadlock and a discussion among the other umpires, the foul ball call stood. Lambright ended up striking out Raley for the second out.
But then he gave up a single to Tyler Neslony before facing Eric Gutierrez. He forced a sky-high popup from Gutierrez, but in the swirling wind, Pearson -- moving over from shortstop to the left of the second base bag -- had the ball pop out of his glove, allowing Gutierrez to reach base and Neslony -- running hard as soon as the ball was popped up -- to score the go-ahead run. Lambright got out of the inning without further damage, sending the game to the bottom of the eighth with Tech leading 3-2.
ACU freshman
Derek Scott reached on an error by Tech second baseman Michael Davis and was quickly bunted over to second by Altimont. But Scott was thrown out at third on a ball hit to the shortstop, allowing Pearson to reach on a fielder's choice. After a stolen base put Pearson at second base with two out,
Aaron Draper followed with a sharp single to right. Pearson was waved in, but Tech rightfielder Stephen Smith put his throw right on catcher Tyler Floyd, who made the tag on Pearson for the final out of the inning, preserving Tech's 3-2 lead going to the ninth inning.
In the ninth, Davis led off with a walk against
Nick Palacios before Floyd popped out on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Smith walked and Orlando Garcia reached on a sharp single to load the bases with one out. Tanner Gardner hit a dribbler back up the first base line that Beasley couldn't handle, allowing Davis to score. Smith scored on the same play and Garcia went to third and Gardner to second when Beasley picked the ball up and threw it over the head of Draper at first base.
Raley followed with a two-run single to help the Red Raiders extend their lead to 7-2. Tech closer Hayden Howard came on in the ninth to strike out the side and preserve the Red Raiders' 7-2 win over the snake-bitten Wildcats.
