ABILENE – Senior right-hander
Drew Hanson tossed his first career complete game – and the Wildcats' first since 2016 – striking out eight Quinnipiac batters in an 11-2 victory Sunday at Crutcher Scott Field.
Hanson is the first ACU pitcher to go the distance in a 9.0-inning game since
Garrett deMeyere beat New Orleans at home on May 6, 2016.
The Wildcats are off to a 3-0 start following their Opening Weekend sweep of the Bobcats, and once again the offense hit the ball well – totaling 11 base hits – and capitalized on nine free passes issued by Quinnipiac pitching.
ACU began to pull away with a four-run fourth inning that snapped a 2-2 tie. Three of the first four batters from the bottom of the Wildcat lineup all drew walks to load the bases against starter Tyler Poulin, and then two runs scored after first baseman Julius Saporito threw the ball wide of catcher Colton Bender following a suicide squeeze bunt by Matt Muñoz (2 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI).
Right fielder
Caleb Kyle (3-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI) plated two more runs on a single through the right side to make it a 6-2 game, scoring catcher
Matthew Nerz (2 BB, 2 runs) and Muñoz.
The Wildcats went on to score five additional runs against five Quinnipiac relievers. Infielder
Robert Salazar (2-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 2 BB) bunted home left fielder
Dalon Farkas in the fifth, and then in the seventh, ACU scored four times on three base hits and a sacrifice fly from Muñoz.
Once again the bottom end of the lineup loaded the bases on two walks and a hit by pitch, and the top of the order brought them home. Kyle singled home
Seth Watts and came around to score on
Riley Donahue's hit through the left side, while
Derek Scott (2-5, RBI) doubled in Nerz, who caught all nine innings of Hanson's gem.
Hanson scattered six hits, walked none, and allowed his only earned run in the first when Evan Vulgamore scorched a single down the right-field line to score Andre Marrero.
ACU soon tied the score in the second on Salazar's RBI single, and went up 2-1 in the third after Kyle scored on right-fielder's Liam Scafariello's throwing error.
Quinnipiac's second run in the fourth also was unearned as a two-out error by starting shortstop
Zach Smith was followed by a RBI double by Frank Cascio. But after that, Hanson retired 15 of the last 19 batters he faced and ended the game on a beautifully turned 3-6-1 double play.
The Wildcats are back in action Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. vs. UTSA.
