ABILENE – Abilene Christian baseball recorded its first .500 season at the NCAA Division I level after finishing a three-game sweep of Nicholls Saturday at Crutcher Scott Field. The two wins today lifted the Wildcats' overall mark to 26-26 as they matched their highest Southland Conference win total at 13.
ACU won the first game, 5-4, in 13 innings (4:08), and after an extensive Senior Day ceremony in which 20 student-athletes were recognized, the Wildcats came out on top once more, 6-2, in a game that lasted 3:20.
The Colonels finished their season at 27-28 (13-17 Southland) and finished one game out of the final postseason spot, which went to 14-16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
As a team, the Wildcats hit .314 vs. Nicholls with
Dalon Farkas driving in six runs on five base hits, including the game-winning runs in game one.
Luis Trevino doubled twice this weekend and drew six walks, while Abilene native
Derek Scott batted .364 (4-11) with two runs, two RBI and four walks.
On the mound, ACU utilized only seven pitchers over 31.0 innings who combined for 20 strikeouts, 3.77 and .226 opponents' batting average.
ACU last finished .500 or better in 2013 (29-24), and hadn't posted this many wins against the league since 2015.
Game One Recap – ACU 5, Nicholls 4 (13 innings)
The Wildcats survived a roller-coaster of a ball game to begin Friday's doubleheader, coming back twice on the Colonels after surrendering a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning.
ACU's starter
Spencer Chirpich – with some defensive help – cruised past the Colonels through 7.0 innings (3K), but his 1-0 lead quickly evaporated when pinch hitter Dillon Belle cracked a two-run home run to right field.
The score remained in the Colonels' favor until their were two outs in the ninth and pinch runner
Seth Watts scored on a wild pitch by starter Jacob Bedevian, who was well past 125 pitches.
Senior
Brennan Lewis (2-1) kept the game tied at 2-2 through the 12th, but a two-out double by right-fielder Alec Paz broke the deadlock as his rip to the left-center gap plated both Ethan Valdez and Brady Bell.
Things then got a little weird in the Wildcats half of the 12th. Designated hitter Matt Muñoz led off with a single through the right side, forcing the first pitching change of the inning. The next Nicholls pitcher Beau Balado walked right fielder
Colton Eager, and then collided with his two corner infielders on a perfectly executed bunt single by
Dalton Dunn.
Luis Trevino was then issued his third consecutive free pass in cutting Nicholls lead to 4-3. That walk brought up Farkas, who capitalized on the situation with a bloop single that bounced past Paz in right field for the Wildcats' first home walkoff victory since the Incarnate Word game on April 6.
Lewis finished his outing with three strikeouts over 5.1 innings pitched, and through two appearances this weekend he earned a win and a save.
On the year Lewis posted a 2.21 ERA with 10 saves and 34K.
Game Two Recap – ACU 6, Nicholls 2
ACU continued to deliver in the clutch throughout the nightcap, beginning with starting pitcher
Brock Barger who stranded four runners on base – including two at third base – through 4.1 innings of work. He got out of the first inning with two strikeouts, and in the second he left Dillon Belle at third base thanks to a ground ball to first base and fly ball to center field.
The Colonels again had a runner reach third base in the second, but right fielder Muñoz gunned down Valdez at second base following a single and then Barger squashed the threat with a fly ball to left off the batt of Brady Bell.
Barger went on to pitch to four batters in a scoreless fourth but hit some trouble with a leadoff walk in the fifth. After throwing a wild pitch and surrendering a single to Champ Davison that put runners on the corners with one out, the coaching staff brought in
Logan Patterson who allowed a run to score on a fielder's choice before getting the final out on a bases-loaded fly ball to right.
Patterson remained effective through the sixth, where the Wildcats helped put the game out of reach with back-to-back two-run hits by Farkas and Scott. Trevino was intentionally walked for the second time in the game (third of the doubleheader) to load the bases for Farkas, and the senior from Milton, Ga., dropped a single into left-center field to score
Collin Chaney and
Lane Bourland.
Scott then ripped a liner over the head of the first baseman and into the right-field corner to make it a 6-1 game with Farkas and Trevino scoring with ease.
That extra insurance helped Patterson and senior
Jonathan Nicholson finish the game. Patterson loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Nicholson came in to get an easy out at home plate followed by a strikeout of Austin France.
Nicholson then worked around a couple singles in the eighth and retired the side in order in the ninth to record his first save as a Wildcat.
