ARLINGTON — It was a pitching clinic put on by two good baseball teams Tuesday night in the Metroplex as ACU met UT-Arlington of the Sun Belt Conference. The Wildcats and Mavericks struck out a combined 28 batters in a four-hour, 12-inning affair, in which UTA used a walk-off home run to win late into the night. ACU (5-3) struck out 18 Maverick hitters as a pitching staff, re-breaking their Division I-era program record of 17 set against New Mexico State, and used five pitchers in the process. The Wildcats scored a run in the fifth and seventh innings to tie the game to send it to extras.
Trailing after three innings
Freshman
Max Huffling got the start on the mound, and UTA was able to push across a run in the home second on an RBI-single. An RBI-groundout score the Mavericks' second run in the bottom of the third, and the home team led 2-0 after three innings. Huffling was replaced by
Tyler Morgan in the third inning with one out, and was able to keep ACU close enough to give the offense a chance in the middle innings.
Clutch swinging in the fifth
Trailing 2-0, ACU went to work in the fifth inning.
Mitchell Dickson singled between a pair of outs, but
Sebastian Randle drew a walk to put two on, with
Cal Strandt coming up. On a 1-1 count, Strandt sent one into right field to score Dickson, and ACU was on the board.
In the meantime, the pitching stayed stellar. Morgan tossed three innings in relief, allowing two hits while striking out three. ACU trailed 2-1 heading to the late frames.
Seventh inning, pitching sends us to extras
Austin Glaze closed out the sixth inning and tossed 2.2 frames of scoreless ball. Glaze was dominant, striking out six of the nine batters he faced. Glaze gave ACU a shot in the seventh inning to tie it, and the offense took advantage of a mistake.
Freshman
Brett Hammit was hit by a pitch to start the top of the seventh inning, and Randle followed it up by advancing him on a sac bunt. That brought up Strandt, who singled to score ACU's first run. Strandt did his job again, putting the ball in play and reaching on an error at second base. Hammit came around to score to tie the game, and ACU turned its focus back to its pitching.
Tanner Riley took over in the ninth inning in a tie game, and had to absolutely battle. After a one-out double, head coach
Rick McCarty called for an intentional walk, putting force outs at all bags. After the next batter reached on a fielder's choice, Riley rared back and struck out back-to-back batters with the bases loaded to get out of it and send the game to extra innings.
A battle in extras
Riley through two innings out of the pen, and stayed hot to start the season. The right-hander recorded four strikeouts and allowed just one hit to keep it tied. He got the game to the 11th tied, and gave the ball to
Carter Sells. Sells kept it tied to send it to the 12th inning.
ACU couldn't push across a run in extra innings, and UTA ended it in the home 12th with a solo home run to right field to open the inning.
Stat Pack
- The 18 strikeouts is a new program record at the D1 level, despite it being in extra innings.
- Glaze tallied six strikeouts to lead the pitching staff, while Riley recorded four, Morgan and Huffling had three, and Sells had two.
- ACU only recorded six hits in the game, but Dickson had two of the them, finishing 2-for-5.
Up Next
ACU will return to Abilene for a three-game, non-conference series with Arkansas State. Friday's first pitch is at 6:05 p.m., Saturday gets started at 4:05 p.m., and Sunday's series finale begins at 1:05 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field.
