COLLEGE STATION – Four Texas A&M pitchers limited ACU to just one hit Tuesday night and the Aggies scored four unearned runs in the fifth inning as the Aggies knocked off the Wildcats, 8-1, at Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field.
The Wildcats' lone hit of the night came with two outs in the top of the ninth when designated hitter
Luis Trevino lined an 0-1 pitch from Jason Ruffcorn into center field. ACU's only run of the contest came in the third inning when
Derek Scott walked, went to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a
Russell Crippen sacrifice fly.
Starting pitcher
Keaton Brewer pitched two scoreless innings and was followed by
Jonah Smith and
Nick Skeffington, who each tossed one inning of scoreless relief.
Drew Hanson got the first two outs of the fifth inning before third baseman
David Ruot – making his first start in the field this season after spending all year coming out of the bullpen – was charged with a throwing error, allowing George Janca to reach base and keep the inning alive.
Nick Choruby followed with a walk and then Logan Foster singled to drive in Janca with the game-tying run. Freshman Braden Shewmake followed with a three-run home run to right field – his fourth round-tripper of the season – to give the Aggies a 4-1 lead. A&M would add two more runs in the sixth off
Caleb Dougherty to make it 6-1, and then tacked on two more in the seventh off
Collin Dudley to make it 8-1.
The only suspense the rest of the night was whether or not the Wildcats would avoid being no-hit for the first time since April 13, 2004, in a 3-0 loss at Incarnate Word, and the wait lasted until their next-to-last batter of the night. Turner Larkins got the start for the Aggies and pitched four hitless innings, and was followed on the mound by John Doxakis (3.0 innings), Landon Miner (1.0 inning) and Ruffcorn. Doxakis (2-1) picked up the win, while Hanson (2-4) was tagged with the loss.
The Wildcats have now lost 13 straight games and are 9-20 overall and will be back in action Thursday-Saturday in a three-game Southland Conference series at Houston Baptist. The Wildcats are 1-14 the Southland, while HBU is 14-15 overall and 6-6 in league play.
"Keaton threw the ball really well, and so did Jonah and Skeffington," Bonneau said. "The first four innings were really crisp and those guys did well. The guys that came in later and threw strikes threw well, too. Our guys are fighting, but we're just in a rut right now. We're going to continue to battle as we get into the second half of the season."
