ABILENE – Junior
Tommy Cruz drove in three runs, sophomore
Austin Wagner tossed six shutout innings of no-hit baseball, and ACU picked up a 5-2 win over the Horizon League's Youngstown State Thursday night at Crutcher Scott Field. The Wildcats (6-2) never trailed en route to their second straight win, and got the three-game series with the Penguins off to a great start.
Strong Pitching Continues
- ACU's starting pitchers have now dropped their earned run average to a miniscule 1.37 after Austin Wagner's quality start. The south paw went 6.0 strong frames, allowing no runs and no hits to keep his ERA at 0.00 for the season.
- Wagner went to 1-1 on the season with the victory, while Ben Johnson tossed two innings of scoreless and hitless relief work.
- The lone hit from the Penguins came in the ninth inning on a two-run home run from Jeff Wehler, but the one hit is the least against the Wildcats this season.
- Austin Glaze tossed the ninth inning for ACU.
Tommy "Cruz"-es at the Plate
- Cruz was spectacular in the two-hole as the designated hitter. The Chandler-Gilbert CC transfer went 3-for-3 and drove in a game-best three runs as well. It all got started in the first.
- Cameron Cromer led the home first off with a walk and a stole base, and reached third on a bad throw by the catcher. Cruz then drove him in with an rbi-single.
- The junior rocketed one to right center field in the third inning, and the ball got by a diving right fielder and rolled all the way to the wall. The speedster raced around the bags and slid in safely with a rare inside-the-park homerun to put ACU up 2-0.
- Leading 4-0 in the seventh, Cruz drew a bases-loaded walk to score Ryne Randle, and the Wildcats led 5-0.
Ryne Randle's Big Swing
- After the 2-0 lead through three innings, senior Ryne Randle changed that in a hurry. The left-handed batter sent a missile off the yellow line at the top of the fence in right field that had an exit velocity of 100.7 miles/hour, and gave ACU a 4-0 advantage. Joseph Craig, who drew a two-out walk, scored on the play, and the lead was doubled.
Stat Pack
- It was the first combined one-hitter for the baseball program since Feb. 27, 2018 against Texas-Permian Basin. Wagner, Johnson, and Glaze dominated in the win.
- ACU recorded eight hits in total, with the other five coming from Cromer, Eric Wimpee, Mitchell Dickson, Randle, and Hayden Clearman.
- Cruz recorded the sixth three-hit game a Wildcat this season, and the first for the junior.
- ACU left five men on base, Youngstown State left just three on; the Penguins only recorded six runners on base in the game.
Up Next
- Game 2 of the series takes place on Friday, Feb. 28 at 6:05 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field.
