ABILENE – Senior right-hander
Spencer Chirpich put together his best home start of the season Sunday afternoon at The Crutch as the ACU baseball team clinched a series win over the UIW Cardinals with an 8-4 victory. Chirpich tossed 7.0 innings of three-run ball, and the offense gave him an early lead on the way to the team's third straight victory. The Wildcats (22-17, 13-11 SLC) recorded 16 more hits, giving them 46 for the weekend as the team fifth place in the league standings. It's the fourth series win overall this season, and the second in league play in 2021.
Chirpich only needed a total of 25 pitches in the first three innings, and the offense jumped in front right away. The 'Cats opened the first with three straight singles, and
Miller Ladusau provided an RBI on a fielder's choice to put ACU up 1-0. They added three more in the second inning with
Mitchell Dickson singling,
Grayson Tatrow providing a sacrifice fly on a foul out, and
Tommy Cruz singling into center field. Cruz's two-out single was the 78th of the season for the team and the seventh for the junior.
UIW made a move in the fourth to get back in it, scoring three times on a pair of doubles to make it a 4-3 contest. Chirpich stayed in the game though, and got the final two outs of the inning, stranding a pair on base.
ACU would get a run back in the home fourth when
Tommy Cruz obliterated his first home run of his career to make it 5-3, and Chirpich went back to work with a 1-2-3 fifth.
Grayson Tatrow smoked a ground-rule double into left center field to plate
Sebastian Randle, and
Colton Eager added another with a sacrifice fly to score Dickson. It was now a four-run lead going to the sixth, and Chirpich continued to impress.
The Fairmont, Minn. native got around a pair of singles in the sixth inning to keep it 7-3, and Randle then added to it with an rbi-double in the bottom half to push the lead to 8-3. Chirp then cruised in the seventh with a 1-2-3 frame, and the longest outing of the season at The Crutch came to an end, giving ACU the late lead and turning it over to the 'pen.
Connor Carlton took over in the eighth, and the lefty put together a perfect inning before giving way to
Carter Sells. The right-hander allowed the one run but closed the game out to give ACU the series win, 8-4.
Stat Pack
- It was the second-longest outing of the season for Chirpich, whoe went 8.0 innings in a loss at Southeastern Louisiana. It was the longest outing in a win, going 7.0 frames of three-run, six-hit ball, recording seven strikeouts in the process. The seven punch outs are a season-high as well, and the second-highest of his career.
- Cruz and Randle each tallied three hits, both tying career-highs. Cruz also had his first career homer.
- Dickson, Tatrow, Ladusau, and Hill all had two hits in the game, and Tatrow and Cruz's two runs driven in apiece were team-highs.
Up Next
ACU heads to H-Town for a four-game series with the Houston Baptist Huskies. Friday's single game gets underway at 2 p.m., Saturday's doubleheader begins at 11 a.m., and Sunday's single game begins at 2 p.m.
