ABILENE – Senior catcher / designated hitter
Luis Trevino lifted his season batting average to a Southland Conference-best .431 after going 4-for-4 at the plate during Sunday's 8-7 loss to Grambling State at Crutcher Scott Field.
A Mission, Texas, native, Trevino singled in the first and fifth innings, clubbed his sixth double of the spring in the fourth, and cracked a two-run home run with two outs in the seventh. He then drew a walk in the ninth to reach base for the fifth time, but was lifted in favor of pinch runner
Kenny Otero who scored the Wildcats' final run on
Koby Claborn's RBI double.
ACU (13-14) went into its final at-bat trailing 8-5 but got a two-out solo home run from center fielder
Derek Scott (4) followed by Trevino's base on balls. Unfortunately, the Wildcats left the tying and winning runs on base as right fielder Matt Muñoz was struck out by Ryan Evans to end the game, thus snapping ACU's three-game winning streak.
Evans' save was his fourth of the season.
The Wildcats were forced to play catch-up from the start as Grambling (12-15) scored once in the first and third innings, and held a 4-0 lead following its fourth-inning at-bat. ACU, however, soon narrowed the gap to 4-3 after third baseman
Seth Watts slapped a two-run, two-out single back up the middle vs. starter Ryan Huntington to plate Claborn and
Ryne Randle. Trevino also scored earlier that inning on a fielding error by the Tigers' first baseman.
Grambling responded to the Wildcats' threat by posting four runs on four hits in the fifth to make it an 8-3 game. The first two Tiger batters of the inning singled, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and fielder's choice, and came rolling in on Drexler Macaay's two-run double. Isaiah Torres followed with a two-run single as part of a 3-for-5 three RBI performance.
Wildcat relievers
Logan Patterson (1.0 IP) and
Brennan Lewis (3.0 IP) held Grambling's offense in check for the remainder of the game, but the five-run hole proved too steep of a climb. Trevino's round-tripper in the seventh was his seventh of the spring and made it an 8-5 game, but the Wildcats stranded one runner on base in the eighth and two in the ninth as Grambling salvaged the final game of the series after losing the first two by scores of 7-4 and 23-5.
ACU's homestand continues Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. game vs. UT Permian Basin.
