ABILENE - The ACU Wildcats rallied from a mid-game deficit to earn a 9-8 win over I-20 rival Tarleton State in Saturday's Senior Day game.
ACU (28-19 overall, 12-8 WAC) led 5-0 after three innings before the Texans scored seven runs in the fourth inning. The Wildcats regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh when Abilene-native
Reese Borho doubled to right field, scoring
Sam Hardcastle to make it a 7-all game. In the next at-bat
Cade McGarrh ran home on a sacrifice bunt by
Maddox Miesse to push ACU back in front, 8-7.
Borho went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI doubles and a fifth-inning solo home run.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Wildcats, and also evened the conference series, 1-1. The rubber match is Sunday at 1:05 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field at Bullock Brothers Ballpark.
The Wildcats started the scoring on a bases-loaded single by
Diego Cardenas that scored Ben Greer and
Grant Watkins. Borho then added a run off an RBI double to right field.
ACU also tacked on runs in the second and third innings -- an RBI double from Greer, and a lead-off long ball which bounced off the video scoreboard by Cardenas. It was Cardenas' 11th home run of the season, which is second behind Watkins' 12 for the team lead.
Tarleton then used five walks in the fourth inning to push seven runs home. Starting pitcher
Brett Lanman was replaced by
Chandler Benson, who had two runs go against his ledger but wound up earning the win on the mound.
Trailing 7-5, the Wildcats chipped away at the deficit. Borho's homer to center pulled ACU within a run. Then Borho and Miesse's heroics in the seventh propelled the Cats ahead.
Braden Regala sprinted out a bunt single, stole second, and then came around to score on a
Zandt Payne hit to right center to give ACU a 9-7 edge.
Henry Cone came in to throw the eighth and ninth innings for ACU. He allowed a sacrifice fly, but then used an off-speed pitch to strike out the final batter and close the deal for the Wildcats.
Sunday's game will be the final home contest of the 2025 season before ACU embarks on a road game at Texas Tech on Tuesday, a series at California Baptist, and then heads straight to Mesa, Arizona, for the WAC Tournament which begins Tuesday, May 20.
