ABILENE – Sam Houston State remained perfect in Southland Conference play Saturday afternoon and evening at a cool, blustery and rainy Crutcher Scott Field with a Southland Conference doubleheader sweep of the Wildcats.
The Bearkats won the first game, 14-3, and then waited through a 50-minute lightning delay in the nightcap to rally from an 11-6 deficit through five innings to score 13 of the final 14 runs of the game over the last four innings to take a 19-12 win in the series finale.
The two losses ran ACU's losing streak to nine games and dropped the Wildcats to 9-16 overall and 1-11 in league play. The Bearkats, meanwhile, improved to 20-8 and 9-0 with the three-game sweep. ACU is back in action next weekend (April 7-9) when it hosts McNeese at Crutcher Scott Field.
Here's a brief recap of each game:
• Game 1 (Sam Houston State 14, ACU 3) – The Bearkats led 7-2 before blowing the game open with a six-run sixth inning. Blake Chisholm had two triples, two doubles and one single as he finished 5 for 6 with four runs scored and two RBI in the game. Andrew Fregia was 2 for 4 with four RBI, while Bryce Johnson was 2 for 5 with two RBI and Lance Miles drove in a pair of runs.
For the Wildcats,
Luis Trevino had a solo home run and
Cole Solomon drove in a run with a groundout. Senior outfielder
Russell Crippen stretched his hitting streak to 24 straight games to start the year with an infield single in the eighth inning.
• Game 2 (Sam Houston State 19, ACU 12) – ACU led 2-0 after one inning before the Bearkats scored five runs in the top of the third inning to take a 5-2 lead. But ACU answered in the bottom of the third with four runs, three of them coming in on Crippen's three-run home run that gave the Wildcats a 6-5 lead and pushes his hitting streak to 25 straight games to start the season.
ACU eventually pushed its lead to 11-6 through five innings before the game was stopped before the start of the sixth inning because of lightning and storms in the area. After a 50-minute delay, the game switched completely as the Bearkats scored eight runs on five hits and five walks against five ACU pitchers in the top of the sixth to take a 14-11 lead over the Wildcats. ACU would not recover as the Bearkats pulled away for the win.
Derek Scott was 4 for 6 with three runs scored and one RBI in the nightcap, while Trevino was 3 for 5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Crippen had three RBI, while
Anthony Dominguez had a pair of hits and one RBI and
Mark Pearson had an RBI.
Dalon Farkas had a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth for the final margin.
