AUSTIN – The Wildcat baseball team might not have bounced back with a win Saturday, but it was a quality showing at UFCU Disch-Falk Field against one of the best teams in the country.
Genner Cervantes pitched a strong 5.1 innings,
Grayson Tatrow went for three hits, and ACU (19-15) took an early lead in the first inning, but ultimately fell 3-1 to No. 3 Texas (29-8) in the middle of the three-game series. UT scored in the sixth, seventh, and eighth to win their 12th straight, but it was a battle all the way to the end.
Tatrow, hitting in the second spot in the lineup for the first time since March 27, singled into right center for the game's first knock, and he would not be done by any means. After a groundout from
Colton Eager moved Tatrow into scoring position at second,
Brett Hammit drove him in to put ACU in front for the first time in the series, 1-0.
Cervantes then went to work. The junior right-hander, in the biggest spot of his ACU career, went 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on four hits in the process. It was a mix of location and the changing of speeds that got Texas off guard. UT put two runners on in the first, but Cervantes induced a 5-3 double play, with
Alexei Cazarin throwing across to
Hunter Gieser to end the threat.
From that moment on, the Phoenix native retired seven straight, with UT not putting a runner on until the fourth inning. The Longhorns put a pair on in the fourth, but Cervantes got a fly out to center to end the inning.
The home team put a runner on with two outs in the fifth, but a ground ball to
Sebastian Randle at short forced out the runner at second to end it.
UT's Tristan Stevens was throwing incredibly well himself, allowing only the one run on five hits through his seven innings of work. ACU put two on with one out in the third inning off back-to-back singles from
Mitchell Dickson and Tatrow, but Stevens stranded both. The 'Cats had a runner at second base with two outs in the fourth, but that was that. ACU went down in order in the fifth and sixth frames.
The Longhorns cause trouble in the bottom of the sixth, reaching base four straight times on a pair of singles and a pair of walks, the latest walk bringing home the tying run. Head coach
Rick McCarty then went to his bullpen, calling on lefty
Max Huffling to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam. Huffling delivered, getting a big strikeout of Eric Kennedy and a flyout to left off of Cam Williams to keep it tied.
Huffling stayed on in the seventh, and a leadoff walk proved deadly. UT moved the runner to second on a groundout when the runner took off on the pitch, and the Longhorns took advantage with a two-out rbi-single up the middle from Zach Zubia to give Texas a 2-1 lead.
ACU brought the top of the order to the plate in the eighth inning, and with one out, Tatrow smoked his third hit of the game for a double to dead center field, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple. The play was reviewed, and the call was upheld.
The Longhorns then added a run in the home eighth off an rbi-double from Williams, and the insurance run made it a 3-1 game.
ACU went down in order in the ninth.
Stat Pack
- Cervantes was brilliant, allowing a run on four hits with a pair of strikeouts, throwing 88 pitches.
- Tatrow recorded three hits, and now has five for the series going in to the finale. It is the fourth three-hit game of the season.
- Huffling threw 1.2 innings of relief, allowing a run on a hit with a pair of punchouts.
- Hammit drove in the 'Cats' only run, and Dickson and Randle each had singles.
-
Connor Carlton threw the eighth inning, allowing the one run on a pair of hits.
- ACU left five runners on base.
Up Next
The series concludes on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ACU veteran starter
Spencer Chirpich (3-2, 5.18 ERA) goes up against UT's righty Kolby Kubichek (4-2, 2.63 ERA). Catch the game on the Longhorn Network and on 102.7 The Bear.
