ABILENE – Junior
Dalon Farkas hit a home run in each game of Saturday's doubleheader split with Texas Southern at Crutcher Scott Field as part of a 4-for-8 day at the plate.
Farkas hit a two-run shot in game one's 6-5 victory, and a solo shot in the nightcap's 8-6 defeat that leaves the Wildcats at 4-1 heading into Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale.
The Tigers are 2-4 after rallying back from a five-run deficit in game two.
Junior Matt Muñoz also batted .500 today with a double, two walks and three stolen bases, and was one of three Wildcats – along with Farkas and
Caleb Kyle – to score three runs.
Game One – ACU 6, Texas Southern 5
Caleb Kyle and
Dalon Farkas each hit two-run home runs, but it was on an unexpected wild pitch that the Wildcats' scored the game-winning run in the eighth inning
With one out and runners and the corners shortstop
Robert Salazar showed bunt, and reliever Peyton Schneider uncorked a pitch high above and behind the right-handed junior.
Dalton Dunn, who reached base earlier in the inning on a shortstop error, scored the go-ahead run.
ACU went on to strand two runners vs. a pair of additional relievers to end the frame, but the one run was enough for closer
Ryan Knowles who tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his first save with the Wildcats.
Working against the top of the Texas Southern order, Knowles got Kamren Dukes on a ground ball and the Tigers' No. 2 and 3 batters to fly out.
The win went to Wildcats' middle reliever
Brennan Lewis for tossing a pair of scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Lewis picked a runner off first base to end the seventh and struck out the side to complete the eighth.
Lewis replaced starter
Jonathan Nicholson after 6.0 solid innings in which the Abilene native punched out seven Tiger batters. Nicholson also walked two and allowed five runs on eight hits, but only three of those were earned, giving him his second quality start of the spring.
Texas Southern scored three times in the second inning to take a 3-2 lead, but it didn't last long as Farkas smacked a third-inning home run over the wall in left-center, scoring Kyle. The lead then went back to the Tigers after a Gaudencio Lucca solo shot in the fourth and Jose Camacho RBI single in the fifth.
Farkas and ACU answered the Tigers once more in the fifth as the Wildcats' DH punched an opposite field double into the right-center gap, plating Matt Muñoz who reached base earlier on a hit by pitch from starter Mason Furlong.
Farkas finished the game 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, while Kyle, who hit his round-tripper in the first inning, went 1-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.
Game Two – Texas Southern 8, ACU 6
The Wildcats couldn't hold onto a 5-0 lead after 4.0 innings as the Tigers scored eight times over the final five frames against starter
Brock Barger and five relievers.
Barger delivered a quality start (three earned runs in 6.0 innings with 7Ks) and left the contest with a 5-3 lead, but Texas Southern struck back with three runs in the seventh and tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth.
Kamren Dukes led off the seventh with a solo home run to left, cutting ACU's lead to 5-4, and the Tigers took the lead for good five batters later at 6-5 when left fielder Ryan Jackson slapped a two-run single to the outfield.
Wildcat reliever
Mark Geisel left the bases loaded in the Tigers' eighth; however, he was chased three batters into the ninth after giving up a walk and RBI double. Game one winner
Brennan Lewis then came on and got an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play only after surrendering an RBI single that made it an 8-5 contest.
Farkas brought the Wildcats back to within two with his ninth-inning leadoff home run. Then closer Seth Oliver got two fly outs, and struck out shortstop
Robert Salazar to end the game with a runner on first base.
ACU's offense started hot against Texas Southern's Darius Boykins, scoring four times on five hits and a walk. Third baseman
Nolan Ritchie broke the scoreless tie with his RBI single in the second inning, and in the third, the Wildcats ripped three straight base hits en route to building a 4-0 lead.
ACU again looked good vs. reliever Michael Villanueva to start the fourth, scoring one run on two hits and a walk, but did nothing against him or reliever Chris Suarez between the fifth and seventh innings.
Villanueva rebounded from his rough fourth inning with a 1-2-3 fifth, and watched his defense throw Muñoz out at the third base bag following an infield single by
Caleb Kyle to end the sixth.
The Wildcats stranded a runner at first base in the seventh, and left two in scoring position to end the eighth.
Villanueva was the pitcher of record when his team went ahead in the seventh to earn his first win of the spring, while Oliver scored the save with 2.0 innings of work (3 Ks).
