NEW ORLEANS – ACU gave up five runs in the fifth and sixth innings combined Friday night and New Orleans made them hold up as the Privateeers knocked off the Wildcats, 8-6, in the first game of their three-game Southland Conference series at Maestri Field.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 9-8 overall and 1-3 in the league, while the Privateers improve to 11-7 and 1-3. The second game of the series is set for a 2 p.m. start Saturday.
The Wildcats led the game 4-3 going to the bottom of the fifth before Dakota Dean led off with a walk. That signaled the end of the night for ACU starting pitcher
Austin Lambright, who was replaced by freshman reliever
Jonah Smith.
Smith immediately coaxed what could have been a double-play ground ball from Tristan Clarke, but both runners were safe on an error by ACU third baseman
Aaron Draper, who couldn't make the play at the corner. John Cable then reached on a fielder's choice ground ball to put runners at the corners before Owen Magee singled to third base to drive in the tying run.
After Hezekiah Randolph was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Jay Robinson singled through the left side to drive in a pair of runs to give UNO a 6-4 lead. Smith got the final two outs of the inning before any further damage was done.
In the sixth, Dean reached on a one-out throwing error by first baseman
Koby Claborn, went to second on a wild pitch, to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Cable then doubled to center and scored on an RBI single by Magee to make it an 8-4 game.
ACU put up a run in the eighth on a
Luis Trevino home run – his second of the season – to cut the lead to 8-5. Then in the ninth, freshman catcher
Cole Solomon led off with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter
Myles Paschall then drove in Solomon with a sacrifice fly to make it an 8-6 contest.
Dalon Farkas then singled to bring the game-tying run to the plate in the form of centerfielder
Derek Scott. The sophomore from Abilene High reached on a fielder's choice before Trevino struck out on three pitches to end the game.
Smith was tagged with the loss to fall to 1-1, while Shawn Semple went seven innings and struck out 10 Wildcats to earn a win to improve to 3-1. Jarred Taylor pitched the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.
