NATCHITOCHES, La. –
Jonathan Nicholson provided Abilene Christian baseball with a 7.1 inning quality start; however, the Wildcats' offense again scuffled against Northwestern State pitching as Jerry Maddox countered Nicholson's effort with a four-hit complete game shutout in the Demons' 5-0 win Saturday at Brown-Stroud Field.
The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when the Demons went ahead on J.P. Lagreco's RBI groundout that scored Tyler Smith, and following a flawless seventh from Nicholson, Smith cracked a one-out solo home run over the left field wall that made it a 2-0 score.
Nicholson walked the next batter and was lifted in favor of senior
Caleb Dougherty, who allowed three consecutive two-out RBI singles from Luke Watson, Caleb Ricca and Peyton Davis following a strikeout of Lagreco.
The Wildcats' offense today received singles from
Collin Chaney,
Colton Eager and
Zach Smith and an eighth-inning double from
Derek Scott, but never pushed a runner past second base. Smith's single led off the third but he was stranded at second after Maddox got Scott and
Dalon Farkas to fly out, and in the fifth,
Lane Bourland's HBP was followed by a sacrifice bunt, strikeout and flyout.
During one stretch from the fifth to the eighth inning, Maddox retired 11 consecutive Wildcats. He also set down the final four batters he faced after Scott's extra-base hit.
The Wildcats and Demons conclude their series Sunday at 1 p.m.
