Abilene Christian
17-12, 2-5
Sacramento State
16-13, 4-3
Wildcats' Last Minute Surge Not Enough to Overcome Hornets
4/4/2025 9:24:00 PM | Baseball
ABILENE, TX – In a Friday night matchup, the Wildcats fell to the Sacramento State Hornets by a score of 9-3. Despite a late-game surge, ACU couldn't overcome Sac State's strong offensive performance.
The Wildcats struggled to get their offense going against the Hornets' pitcher, Evan Gibbons, who held ACU scoreless through eight innings. Gibbons allowed only six hits and struck out three, effectively shutting down ACU's batters.
Sac State built a lead steadily, scoring single runs in the third and fourth innings, then adding two more in the seventh and a significant four-run burst in the eighth. Key hits and timely home runs from Sacramento State's lineup put ACU in a tough position.
ACU's pitching staff faced challenges throughout the game. Dominick Reid, the starting pitcher for the Wildcats, pitched 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits.
At the bottom of the ninth, Abilene Christian rallied late. After Sac State made a pitching change, ACU managed to score three runs. Nick Arias walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Diego Cardenas singled to put runners on base. Zandt Payne walked to load the bases, and Ben Greer delivered a crucial three-RBI double to score Arias, Cardenas, and Payne. Louis Bussard followed with a single, putting runners on first and second, but ACU couldn't sustain the momentum, as the next two batters were retired to end the game.
Offensively, Braden Regala led the Wildcats with two hits, while Grant Watkins also contributed two hits. Greer's late-game double drove in three runs, accounting for all of ACU's RBIs. However, the Wildcats struggled to string together consistent hits, leaving eight runners on base.
ACU will host the second game of the series on Saturday, at the new time of 11:05 a.m. CT. Make sure to get your tickets at tickets.acusports.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gibbons, Evan (5-1)
L: Reid, Dominick (4-2)
Batting:
3B: White, Tyler 1
HR: Smith, JP 1 ; Portunak, Jakob 1 ; Mullin, Jameson 1 ; Perazzo, Michael 1
RBI: White, Tyler 1 ; Smith, JP 1 ; Portunak, Jakob 1 ; Kligman, Elie 1 ; Mullin, Jameson 3 ; Perazzo, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: White, Tyler 1 ; Smith, JP 1 ; Sewell, Cameron 1 ; Portunak, Jakob 1 ; Christiansen, Ryan 1 ; Kligman, Elie 1 ; Mullin, Jameson 1 ; Perazzo, Michael 2
SB: White, Tyler 1
Batting:
2B: Greer, Benjamin 1
RBI: Greer, Benjamin 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Arias, Nick 1 ; Cardenas, Diego 1 ; Payne, Zandt 1
SB: Rook, Holden 1
CS: Rook, Holden 1
HBP: Cardenas, Diego 1
