ABILENE – Baseball is a crazy game, and that was never more evident than Saturday's game at Crutcher Scott Field where Northwestern State – less than 24 hours removed from a 4-0 loss to Abilene Christian – hit five home runs in a 24-11 win over the Wildcats that evened the Southland Conference series at one game apiece.
The rubber game of the series is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Demons (7-5, 1-1 Southland) today posted crooked numbers across the scoreboard in all but three innings, which allowed them to counter any potential Wildcat comeback attempt.
NSU scored seven first-inning runs capped by Larson Fontenot's grand slam, and took a 9-0 lead in the second after Tyler Smith cracked a shot over the wall in right-center field.
The Wildcats would have a big second inning of their own, scoring six times on five base hits the last of which was
Koby Claborn's three-run bomb that trimmed the Demon's lead to 9-6.
That's as close as the score would get with the Demons again batting around in the third inning thanks to four walks, three base hits and a couple hit batsmen that led to six runs and a 15-6 lead.
ACU (8-7, 1-1 SLC) went on to get a two-run RBI single from
Luis Trevino (3-4, run, two RBI) in the third, and posted single runs in the fourth (
Colton Eager RBI double), seventh (
Riley Donahue PH HR) and ninth (
Kenny Otero PH RBI single).
The Demons, meanwhile, recorded three home runs over the last six innings. Caleb Ricca and Marshall Skinner ripped two-run shots in the fourth and eighth, and in the seventh, Sam Taylor recorded NSU's second grand slam of the game.
NSU reliever Tyler Pigott was credited with the win after tossing 3.1 innings (third to sixth) with two strikeouts.
