ABILENE – Wildcat pitchers
Brock Barger and
Caleb Dougherty combined for 13 strikeouts, and second baseman
Dalton Dunn went 3-for-4 with a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning to lead Abilene Christian baseball to a 5-4 win over Quinnipiac Saturday afternoon at Crutcher Scott Field.
The victory gives ACU a series win and 2-0 record, while the Bobcats dropped to 0-2. The two sides will play their series finale
Sunday at 11 a.m.
Quinnipiac answered the Wildcats' first four runs over the first six innings, but did very little against Dougherty in his three innings of work. The 6-foot-3 inch senior from Keller faced three batters in the seventh, struck out the side in the eighth, and after putting two runners on in the ninth, got a swinging strikeout of leadoff batters Andre Marrero and a ground ball off the bat of Dylan Lutz to end the game after two hours and 44 minutes.
Lutz went 0-for-5 from the No. 2 spot with three strikeouts vs. Barger, who allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks. The junior from San Angelo also struck out seven hitters in his Wildcat debut.
The Wildcats scored two first inning runs for Barger as
Caleb Kyle singled and scored on
Riley Donahue's base hit, and then
Derek Scott hustled home on a ground ball to the shortstop.
Quinnipiac came right back with two runs in its half of the second and scored an unearned run in the third following a miscommunication between Kyle and Matt Muñoz in right-center field that led to a 3-3 score. The next inning, however, Muñoz made a sensational diving catch in right-center field to rob catcher Anthony Cruz of extra bases with two outs.
Bobcat starter Brandon Shileikis (3K) left the game after 4.0 innings, and the Wildcats greeted reliever Chris Enns with a couple of base hits that resulted in a 4-3 lead. Donahue worked a leadoff walk vs. Enns, advanced to second on a sacrifice by
Dalon Farkas, and scored on Dunn's RBI single to left field.
Barger started sharp in the sixth, getting a 6-4-3 double play after a bunt single by Brian Moskey, but with two outs first baseman Ben Gibson hammered a solo shot over the wall in left-center field to tie the score a third time at 4-4. Barger then got Cruz to fly out to end the inning, finishing on 90 pitches.
The score remained knotted at 4-4 until one out in the seventh when Dunn – a native of Mansfield – clubbed his first home run as a Wildcat over the head of Marrero in left field. Marrero stay with the ball all the way until reaching the wall.
Lane Bourland stared the eighth with a double in hopes of scoring an insurance run, but Enns and the Bobcat defense left him stranded at third base.
ACU totaled 12 base hits vs. Quinnipiac with multi-hit games coming from Kyle (2-3), Donahue (2-3), Dunn (3-4),
Robert Salazar (2-4) and Bourland (2-4).
