ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats completed their weekend turnaround Sunday afternoon with another clean victory, this time a 5-3 victory over North Dakota State at Crutcher Scott Field that finished off ACU's three-game sweep of the Bison.
The Wildcats opened their season last weekend at home by being swept in a four-game set by Michigan State. North Dakota State entered the three-game set against ACU coming off a four-game sweep of Mississippi Valley State, but left Abilene late Sunday afternoon after being dominated by the Wildcats.
ACU gave up just five runs on 17 hits in three games, and after the pitching staff gave up 26 walks to Michigan State, the Wildcats allowed 15 walks this weekend, but only six in the last two games.
Sunday afternoon the Wildcats used six pitchers, although by a pre-arranged plan, none of them went more than the 2 1/3 innings that freshman
Ryan Kotulek pitched late in the game.
Drew Hanson started and went two innings to earn the victory.
KEY INNING
The Wildcats pounced on North Dakota State starting pitcher Reed Pfannenstein with three runs on six hits. With two outs and runners at first and third,
Koby Claborn drilled an opposite-field double to left field to drive in
Hillin Warren and
Luis Trevino to give the Wildcats a quick 2-0 lead. Freshman
Anthony Dominguez then followed with an RBI single to drive in Claborn for a 3-0 lead.
ACU tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI double by
Derek Scott, and then scored its final run in the bottom of the eighth when Scott hammered his first collegiate home run deep over the wall in right field to lead off the frame.
ON THE MOUND
Hanson was solid in two innings, giving up just one run on two hits before leaving after the first two innings in favor of
Zach Kornely, who threw one scoreless inning.
David Ruot gave up one run in the fourth before
Caleb Dougherty threw a scoreless fifth inning.
Kotulek came on in the sixth and after getting the first two outs gave up back-to-back singles and a hit by pitch to load the bases. But he struck out pinch-hitter J.T. Core to end the inning. He then retired the Bison in order in the seventh, but left with one out in the eighth after giving up a walk to Logan Busch.
Brandon Lambright then came in and got a strikeout before giving up a balk to move Busch into scoring position and an RBI single to Tucker Rohde to cut ACU's lead to 4-3. But Lambright got a popout to end the inning and then struck out the side in the top of the ninth to end the game, picking up his second save of the season.
AT THE PLATE
• Sophomore centerfielder
Derek Scott went 3 for 4 with one run scored, two RBI and his first collegiate home run in Sunday's game, the best outing of his ACU career. He finished the weekend 5 for 11 with three RBI and four runs scored.
• Freshman
Anthony Dominguez got his first start in the outfield (right field) and went 2 for 3 with one RBI in Sunday's contest.
• Second baseman
Dalon Farkas had two more hits Sunday to lift his average to .333 on the season.
•
Hillin Warren got his first start of the season at third base and went 2 for 4 at the plate with one run scored.
NOTABLE
• North Dakota State hit just .189 against the Wildcats this weekend (18 for 95) with only four extra-base hits.
• ACU, meanwhile, hit .299 in the series (29 for 97) with nine extra-base hits: six doubles, one triple and two home runs.
• The Wildcats hit just nine home runs in 53 games in 2016, but have already hit four in seven games in 2017.
• The Wildcats committed nine errors last weekend in four games against Michigan State, but played three error-less games this weekend against North Dakota State.
QUOTABLE
"Our defense really came around this weekend, and we really needed to see that. When we play clean in the field, we can put ourselves in good position to win. Our pitching staff has pieced together some games and that's been huge for us. As we move forward we will continue to work hard to define roles for our pitchers and get a consistent lineup. I am very proud of how this team has put up runs and has continued to put pressure on the opponent. That's a key area we we've worked hard on to try and improve from last year and the hard work is paying off." – ACU head coach Britt Bonneau
NEXT GAME
The Wildcats will be back in action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. when it hosts Texas-Permian Basin in a non-conference game at Crutcher Scott Field. The game will be broadcast on 98.1 FM. Before the game, former ACU assistant football coach and head baseball coach Jerry Wilson will throw out the first pitch.
