ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats certainly can't say they lost their Southland Conference opener Friday night because they didn't have enough opportunities to win.
They gave themselves plenty of chances to beat Incarnate Word at Crutcher Scott Field, but it was the Cardinals who finally capitalized on their opportunities, scoring three times in the top of the 11th inning to walk away with a 6-3 win over the Wildcats.
The Wildcats' second straight loss after a seven-game winning streak drops them to 7-6 overall and 0-1 in the Southland, while the Cardinals improve to 10-6 and 1-0. Game 2 of the three-game series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. with the series finale set for Sunday at 1 p.m.ACU stranded 16 runners on base in the game, had runners on base in every inning except the second and eighth, and left the bases loaded in the fifth, ninth and 11
th innings.
With the game tied in the ninth,
Anthony Dominguez – who had two hits on the night – grounded into an inning-ending fielder's choice, and then in the 11th, freshman pinch-hitter
Myles Paschall just missed a pitch with the bases loaded, driving a pitch deep to center field where it was caught by Mark Whitehead near the wall for the final out of the game.
KEY INNING
ACU led 2-0 before UIW got a single run in the third and two in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. The Wildcats finally got it tied in the seventh on an RBI single by
Russell Crippen that drove in
Derek Scott to knot the game at three apiece.
Both teams had chances in the late innings as UIW – which stranded 12 runners in the game – left two on in the eighth and one on in the ninth, while ACU left the bases juiced in the ninth.In the 11
th, however, UIW opened the inning with three straight hits from Kyler\
Genenbacher, Lee Thomas and Whitehead to load the bases. Ryan Gonzalez drove in the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly to center that plated Genenbacher for a 4-3 Cardinals' lead. David Anaya then came to the plate and was immediately ruled out by the plate umpire for using an illegal bat, the second out of the inning.
ACU closer
Brandon Lambright then got ahead of Garrett Terrell 1-2 before giving up a walk to re-load the bases, and then Eddy Gonzalez pulled a 1-0 fastball into the right field corner to drive in two runs and give UIW a 6-3 lead. Lambright worked out of the rest of the inning without giving up anything else, but the damage was done.In the bottom of the 11
th,
Luis Trevino singled with one out, then went to second on
Koby Claborn's two-out single to center.
Hillin Warren then reached on a fielder's choice that saw Claborn barely beat the throw to second, loading the bases for the Wildcats. On a 1-1 pitch, Paschall lofted a towering fly ball to the deepest part of the park, but Whitehead caught it just in front of the wall to end the game.
AT THE PLATE
* With his 2 for 5 night, Trevino now has a hit in every game this season for the Wildcats.
* Crippen was 2 for 4 with two RBI, giving him the team lead in hits (23) and batting average (.426) over Trevino in both categories (.420 average and 21 hits for Trevino).
*
Dalon Farkas had his third three-hit game of the season and is now hitting .333 on the season, and is tied with Trevino with 21 hits.
* Scott was 0 for 4 with one run scored and saw his hit streak end at nine straight. He still leads the team in runs scored out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup with 15 runs scored.
* Senior 3B
Aaron Draper had three hits for the first time this season. The last time he had three hits in a game was May 13, 2016, against Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
ON THE MOUND
*
Austin Lambright had his longest outing of the season, going 4 2/3 innings, but his pitch count once again kept him going any longer into the contest. He finished with 107 pitches while striking out seven Cardinals and walking four.
* ACU pitchers finished the night with 12 strikeouts of the Cardinals to give them 116 on the season. Lambright walked four, but three other ACU pitchers – freshmen
Jonah Smith and
Ryan Kotulek and Lambright – combined to issue just one free pass in the final 6 1/3 innings of baseball.
NEXT GAME
Game 2 of the series is set for a 1 p.m. start Saturday at Crutcher Scott Field. The game was originally scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, but was moved up one hour to avoid potential thunderstorms forecast for the area Saturday afternoon.
