Cats Take SFA Series with Saturday Split

NACOGDOCHES – Abilene Christian got a needed series win by splitting its Western Athletic Conference doubleheader at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.
 
The series win puts ACU in seventh in the WAC standings with three series to play. The top eight teams go to the WAC Tournament in Seattle May 8-11.
 
ACU won the first game on Saturday, 9-4, before losing the second game 2-0.
 
Ella Beeman got her fourth win of the season and pitched five scoreless innings. Nielsen came on in the bottom of the sixth and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings for the save.
 
ACU took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener on a throwing error and an RBI single by Avery Miloch.
 
The Wildcats added four more in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Sammie Shelander, a two-run double by Bubba Rote and an RBI grounder by Randi Davila.
 
SFA scored four times in the sixth but a three-run error gave ACU the final margin in the top of the seventh.
 
The Wildcats had 11 hits, including two each by Kaydee Bennett, Olivia Marble and Miloch and one apiece by Shelander, Rote, Davila, Miranda Lista and Skylar Padgett.
 
Rote was charged with the loss in the second game. Lina Russo pitched six innings, allowing one run on two hits.
 
ACU had six hits, led by Marble with two. Shelander, Rote, Davila and Padgett added one each.
 
The Wildcats return home next weekend for a three-game series with UT Arlington, starting with a single game at 6 p.m. on Friday.