MESA, Ariz. – Trailing 3-0 after an inning and a half, the ACU baseball team did not panic. Instead, they answered to take the lead in the fourth inning, and never looked back. The No. 4 Wildcats (28-28) advance to Friday night after a 9-4 victory over No. 2 seed Lamar at Hohokam Stadium, and will now play top-seeded Grand Canyon for the second time in the tournament. ACU got a great starting outing from
Adam Stephenson, and the offense matched it with a 10-hit game.
Carter Sells finished it off and it is off to the nightcap at the WAC Tournament.
How It Happened
- For the first time in the tournament, ACU was not the first team to put runs on the board. Lamar scored two in the top of the first inning with a triple to right center field, and the Wildcats were down early. No need to worry, though.
- The Cardinals hit a solo home run to open the second inning, but after that, Stephenson settled in, retiring the next five batters and not allowing another run in his five innings.
- ACU, down 3-0, went to work. After loading the bases and striking out,
Hunter Gieser stepped in, and despite the big first baseman also swinging and missing, the ball got away on a wild pitch, allowing
Tommy Cruz to score the first run of the game for the 'Cats.
- ACU, the home team on the scoreboard for the first time in the tournament, took a lead they would not give up in the fourth inning.
Bryson Hill doubled down the right field line to score
Miller Ladusau, and two batters later, Gieser had the swing of the day, driving a ball to the gap in right center field, scoring two, and ending up with a triple. It gave ACU a 4-3 lead.
- The inning wasn't over.
Bash Randle drove in Gieser with a sacrifice fly, and the 'Cats led 5-3 after four.
- Neither team scored again until the seventh, when ACU extended its lead.
Colton Eager launched his first career post-season home run with a solo shot to left center in the home seventh, and it followed with
Bryson Hill reaching on a sacrifice bunt that turned into a throwing error, allowing Cruz to score.
Tanner Tweedt then capped off the inning with a double down the right-field line to score two more, and it was a 9-3 lead.
- Lamar added one more in the top of the ninth with a sacrifice fly, but that was it, and ACU held on for the 9-4 victory.
Stat Pack
- Stephenson got the win, going five innings of strong baseball, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
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Carter Sells was tremendous out of the bullpen, throwing a four-inning save, allowing one run, unearned, on just one hit with four strikeouts. The save is Sells' second of the season.
- Of ACU's 10 hits, it was Ladusau who led the way with three. The Wildcat left fielder also scored twice.
- Cruz and Tweedt each tallied two hits, and Tweedt drove in a pair.
- Gieser drove in two with his double, and scored a run as well.
Beyond the Box Score
- Cruz has now reached base nine times in the last two days of the tournament.
- Friday marked the seventh meeting this season against Lamar. The Wildcats took two-out-of-three against the Cardinals in Beaumont in early April, but it was Lamar who swept ACU in May at Crutcher Scott Field. The season series is now 4-3 in favor of Lamar, but the 'Cats got the biggest win in the series.
- ACU is now 2-0 in post-season games against Lamar. The Wildcats won 7-1 in the opening game of the 2021 Southland Tournament.
- The save for Sells is just the sixth save of the year for ACU.
- Sells' season ERA is down to 1.87, the lowest on the Wildcat staff.
- Friday marked the 33rd time this season ACU tallied at least 10 hits in a game.
On Deck
- The Wildcats have now worked their way back on the consolation side of the bracket, and will get their rematch with top-seeded Grand Canyon. It is the consolation semifinal game, and it is slated to begin at 9 p.m. CT / 7 p.m. PT, and airs on ESPN+.
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