WACO – Senior infielders
Dalton Dunn and
Koby Claborn were responsible for all the scoring in Abilene Christian baseball's 6-3 defeat at Baylor Wednesday night.
Dunn's round-tripper was his second of the year and put the Wildcats (9-8) on the board in the sixth inning following two solo shots by Baylor's leadoff man Nick Loftin. The Bears' shortstop went deep in the first and third frames against ACU starter Drew Hanson (0-2), who struck out four in his 3.0 innings of work.
Baylor (11-4) responded to Dunn's home run with a four spot in its half of the sixth inning vs. relievers Kenny Otero and Mark Geisel. The Wildcats were one out away from keeping it a one-run game but Andy Thomas singled home a run and scored on Josh Bissonette's two-run shot to left field. The Bears then plated their final run on back-to-back doubles by Mack Mueller and Chase Wehsener.
The score remained 6-1 in Baylor's favor until the eighth when Claborn clubbed a two-run homer over the wall in right-center field, scoring Dalon Farkas. Claborn's homer was his third of the spring, and put the Wildcats within striking distance of a ninth-inning comeback, which was made all the more possible after Bryant Jordan struck out Richard Cunningham with the bases loaded to end the eighth.
ACU went on to put one runner on base in the ninth after Colton Eager singled to left off closer Kyle Hill (two saves), but the Bears' sixth pitcher of the evening was able to finish matters by getting Seth Watts and Dunn to fly out.
Luke Boyd (1-0) started for Baylor and earned the victory despite only tossing 23 pitches through 2.0 shutout innings during which he struck out four batters. Blake Helton followed with 3.0 scoreless frames, but Dunn finally broke the combined shutout bid against Jacob Ashkinos.
Ryan Leckich tossed a scoreless seventh inning, and Daniel Caruso was responsible for the home run to Claborn in the eighth.
With the exception of the four-run sixth, the Wildcat received solid performances out of its bullpen from Cole McKay (4th), Zach Smith (5th), Logan Patterson (7th-8th) and Bryant Jordan (8th).
The Wildcats return to action Friday for the start of a three-game Southland Conference series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
