ABILENE – Senior
Breck Eichelberger threw seven shutout innings for the second straight outing, junior
Bash Randle drove in four runs, and the ACU baseball team bounced back in a big way with a 10-0, seven-inning, run-rule win over Sacramento State on Saturday. The Wildcats (17-6, 6-2 WAC) evened the best-of-three series, scoring seven times in the sixth and seventh combined to walk-off with a run-rule win over the Hornets (12-10, 2-3 WAC). Eichelberger dominated on the mound, setting ACU up in great position for the rubber match on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
How It Happened
-
Garrett Williams got the game started in the home first with an unconventional triple that dropped next to the right fielder and rolled to the warning track. Williams would come home to score on a single from
Miller Ladusau to go up 1-0. It was ACU's first lead of the week, and they would not surrender it. The 'Cats led 1-0 after two innings of play.
- The third inning saw a massive two-run home run from
Grayson Tatrow. The lefty slugger crushed a ball to right center field to push the lead out to 3-0 after a pair of innings.
- Then it was the pitching. The game remained 3-0 all the way to the home sixth. Eichelberger took over and limited the base runners in each inning. The righty needed just 75 pitches on Saturday in his outing.
- Tatrow and
Tanner Tweedt each walked to open up the bottom of the sixth, and after a fly out moved Tatrow up 90 feet each and a strikeout put two outs on the board, it was
Crew Parke who stepped up and delivered. The ACU shortstop singled into center field to score Tatrow, bringing up
Bash Randle for his moment. The junior delivered with a bomb to left field. His first homer of the year was a three-run shot to open up the lead to 7-0.
- After Eichelberger delivered a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, then
Logan Britt led the bottom half of the inning off with a single and a stolen base. It set up Tatrow, who drove the ball to almost the exact same spot in right center, this time drilling the wall on the fly for a double to make it 8-0. Then with two on and two out in the inning, Randle delivered again, this time with a two-run single to walk-off in a run-rule game. The game ended 10-0 in the seventh.
Stat Pack
- Eichelberger went the distance, tossing 7.0 shutout innings on just three hits, the fewest he's allowed in a seven-inning start in his ACU career. The right-hander struck out four and did not walk a batter.
- Randle, Tatrow, and Ladusau each totaled two hits, with Randle driving in four and Tatrow driving in three. Tatrow also paced ACU with three runs scored.
- Eight different players scored a run, and eight different players recorded a hit.
- ACU drew seven walks as a team Saturday, the second-most this season.
- Williams' lone hit was the triple, the first of his ACU career.
Beyond the Box Score
- Tatrow's home run was 114 miles per hour off the bat, powered by Trackman. It's a new personal best exit velocity for the Wildcat senior.
- Randle's homer was 100 miles per hour off the bat according to Trackman, also a personal best.
- Eichelberger threw the first complete game of his ACU career. The right-hander only went into the seventh inning one time in his injury-riddled junior campaign, but this season has pitched seven strong innings in back-to-back outings over the last two Saturdays.
- Randle had just five runs driven in for the season entering Saturday, and drove in a season-best four in the game.
- Saturday was ACU's seventh game of the season that did not finish in nine innings. One of the games went to the 10th, and the other six finished either in the seventh or eighth.
On Deck
- The rubber match is set for Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Right-hander
Austin Glaze (1-0, 5.40 ERA) goes for ACU on the mound against right Evan Gibbons (1-2, 8.31 ERA) for Sacramento State.
#ATO | #GoWildcats
