ABILENE – Northwestern State took advantage of 12 walks issued by ACU pitchers Friday night as the Demons knocked off ACU, 10-3, in the first game of a three-game Southland Conference series at Crutcher Scott Field.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 12-34 overall and 2-23 in the league, while the Demons improve to 19-29 and 9-16. The second game of the series is set for a 6 p.m. start Saturday with the series finale set for Sunday at 1 p.m. This is ACU's final home series of the season.
Russell Crippen got the Wildcats started with a bang on Senior Night as the senior second baseman hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to give ACU a 1-0 lead. But the Demons took advantage of seven walks issued by ACU starting pitcher
Austin Lambright and finally broke through with three runs in the third and two more in the fourth.
ACU answered with two runs in the fifth on a two-run home run to right field by
Derek Scott, but the Demons came right back with three runs in the sixth before tacking on single runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Nathan Jones took the win to improve to 4-7, while Dan Hlad picked up his first save with 3 1/3 innings of two-hit baseball. Reliever
Keaton Brewer took the loss to fall to 1-4 on the season.
