ABILENE – Houston Baptist baseball (16-19, 9-5 Southland) once again took advantage of the blustery West Texas conditions Saturday at Crutcher Scott Field, cranking out six home runs in a 13-5 victory over the Wildcats (16-17, 3-14 Southland).
ACU recorded the game's first home run – a two-run shot by junior first baseman
Riley Donahue in the first inning that put the home team ahead 2-0, but the Huskies cut that deficit in half with a third-inning RBI single and took the lead for good on Jack Fitzgerald's three-run bomb over the wall in right-center field.
HBU added two more home runs as part of a four-run fifth and received back-to-back jacks from Jonathan Ducoff and Elijah Simon with two outs in the seventh. Simon again went yard in the ninth.
Donahue went on to have a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a run, two RBI and a walk, and last night's cycle hitter Matthew Muñoz went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Muñoz also stole a home run from Ducoff in the second inning with a leaping catch in center field, and he gunned down Fitzgerald sliding into third base for the final out of the ninth.
HBU's Matthew McCollough improved to 5-1 on the season after striking out nine batters in 8.0 innings and 113 pitches. Cameron Copeland then came in to pitch the ninth and allowed a pinch-hit two-run double to
Collin Chaney, which made it a 13-5 game. Scoring on the hit were Muñoz and
Nolan Ritchie.
The Wildcats' scored their third run on a fifth-inning RBI single by
Colton Eager, which score
Seth Watts.
ACU and HBU conclude their series Sunday at 1 p.m.
