ABILENE – The Wildcats' pitching staff bounced back from giving up 14 runs Sunday to New Orleans, but their offense struggled to get things rolling against five different UT Arlington pitchers in a two-hit 3-0 loss Tuesday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The loss dropped ACU's record to 13-6, while the Mavericks – winner of six-straight games – improved to 10-9.
The good news for the Wildcats was the resiliency of junior starter
Colton Brasher. The Longview native was hit hard two days ago in 1.1 innings of work vs. the Privateers, but tonight he came away with four strikeouts through 5.0 innings pitched, worked his way out of some big jams, and came one out away from producing a scoreless outing.
Brasher in the first got No. 5 batter Will Olson to ground out to second base with runners in scoring position, and in the third he escaped a situation in which there were runners at second and third base with no outs. A transfer from Panola College, Brasher induced a hard ground ball to short off the bat of R.J. Williams for out No. 1, in which
Robert Salazar looked back both runners. Then he whiffed slugger Noah Vaughn for the second out.
Brasher lost designated hitter Christian Hollie to a walk that loaded the bases, but once more got Olson on a routine grounder to second base and complete the Houdini act.
For a moment it appeared that performance would swing the momentum in ACU's favor as the Wildcats started the top of the fourth with a walk (
Caleb Kyle) and single (
Dalon Farkas) vs. starter Cody Wernli. But
Riley Donahue struck out trying to bunt with two strikes and reliever Logan Austin (1-0) got a 6-4-3 double play ball off
Dalton Dunn.
The Wildcats would put only two more runners on base for the rest of the night. Matthew Muñoz drew a one-out walk in the sixth but was left stranded at third base when Austin struck out Farkas, and in the ninth, Farkas grounded into a game-ending double play after Kyle drew a walk.
Brasher turned a double play of his own to end the fourth, handling a high chopper put in play by Phil Berthiaume to begin a 1-6-3 twin killing, but the Mavs soon broke the scoreless tie in the fifth on R.J. Williams' two-out solo shot to left field, which was his second of the season.
UTA added another two-out run in the sixth off reliever
Jonathan Nicholson as a bloop single to center field by Omar Salinas was followed by a RBI single up the middle by Josh Minjarez. Then in the ninth Hollie's triple (the 10th for UTA this season) off
Derek Scott was followed by a run-scoring ground ball to first base by Olson.
Hollie and Minjarez accounted for four of UTA's eight base hits. ACU's hits were recorded by Farkas and Scott, who doubled with two outs in the second inning.
The Wildcats return to action Friday for the start of a three-game series vs. Stephen F. Austin. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
