ABILENE – Freshman pitcher
Tyler Morgan recorded his third quality start of the season,
Grayson Tatrow and
Miller Ladusau each drove in three runs, and the Wildcat baseball team ran its winning streak to 10 Friday night in a 10-1 drubbing of the Sam Houston Bearkats at Don Sanders Stadium. ACU (29-17, 20-11 SLC) tallied 11 hits, scored six times in the sixth inning, and completely ran away from Sam Houston (22-20, 16-12 SLC) on their way to their first-ever 20-win season as a member of the Southland Conference. Eight players recorded a hit and the top five in the order each drove in runs on the way to the longest winning streak for the program in 11 years.
The scoring got started very early when
Grayson Tatrow hit a solo home run to left field in the first inning off Sam Houston starter Tyler Davis. It settled the game in for Morgan, who tossed a scoreless first and got things in motion. ACU took the 1-0 lead to the third inning, where the offense continued to show why it's one of the best in the league, and certainly one of the deepest.
Eric Wimpee, making his third straight start, got the third started with a double into right center field, the second extra-base hit of the season.
Mitchell Dickson then drove him in with a single into center field to stretch the lead to 2-0, and another scoreless inning from Morgan moved the game into the middle innings.
The right-hander got into some trouble in the fourth, but then had a defining moment of the game. After allowing the first three batters to reach (double, single, walk) and a run to score in that sequence, Morgan buckled in. The Flower Mound, Texas native got a key ground ball to get a force out at second base, and now with runners on the corners, had to make a pitch. He did just that. Sam Houston tried to lay a squeeze bunt down, but Morgan charged home and flipped it to Dickson who tagged the runner at the plate, taking on a collision in the process, to get the key second out. Morgan then enduced a ground ball to first, and Wimpee took it to the bag to end the inning. Morgan escaped more damage, kept ACU up 2-1, and stayed in the game in the process. It was a huge moment in the game as Morgan would go seven strong innings.
His offense also went back to work. Wimpee started the fifth off as well, this time reaching on a hit by pitch. After Dickson singled, both of them moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. That was enough for Tatrow to drive in another one, this on a ground ball to first base to bring home Wimpee.
Colton Eager then singled to plate Dickson, and the lead was up to 4-1. And then the big inning occured.
After a 1-2-3 fifth, the 'Cats put together a six-run, 10-batter sixth inning.
Miller Ladusau would go on to have two extra-base hits in the inning, leading off with a home run to left field on the first pitch. That started the domino.
Sebastian Randle and Wimpee both singled, with Randle moving to third on a brilliant hit-and-run on the latter, and then patience became a virtue.
Harrison Caley (who pinch-hit), Dickson, Tatrow, and
Tommy Cruz all took bases-loaded walks to plate four consecutive runs. The baton kept being passed to the next person, and it was Ladusau who bookended the inning with a double to left center to score two more. Cruz was thrown out at the plate to end it, but the damage was done. It was now a 10-1 game.
Morgan gave way to
Trevor Jackson in the eighth inning, and Jackson finished it off for ACU, giving the 'Cats their first win in Huntsville since they moved to Division I in 2014.
Stat Pack
- Morgan's third quality start featured 7.0 strong innings of one-run ball on four hits, with three strikeouts.
- Jackson allowed just one hit in two innings in relief with a pair of punch outs.
- Tatrow and Ladusau each drove in three runs, with Ladusau tying a career-high in that category. It was also the eighth and fifth homers for each, respectively.
- Dickson, Ladusau, and Wmipee each tallied two hits; it was Wimpee matching his career-best.
- Dickson and Tatrow both reached base three times.
- It is the first win of the season for Morgan.
- The 10-game winning streak is the longest since the program won 11 straight in the 2010 season.
- Eager now has an 11-game hitting streak, and his 48 RBI are now sitting back atop the lead in the Southland Conference.
- Tatrow's hitting streak is up to eight games.
- ACU is now 23-2 when they have at least 10 hits in a game.
Up Next
The teams get together for a doubleheader on Saturday that gets underway at 2 p.m. RHP
Genner Cervantes (6-1, 5.83 ERA) goes against LHP Dominic Robinson (3-1, 2.94 ERA) in game one, while LHP
Adam Stephenson (1-4, 3.81 ERA) takes on RHP Coltin Atkinson (4-1, 2.89 ERA) in game two.
