ABILENE - Abilene Christian baseball closed out its series versus St. Thomas in run-rule fashion on Sunday afternoon, cruising to a 13-2 win in seven innings at Crutcher Scott Field at Bullock Brothers Ballpark. The Wildcats scored seven runs in the opening frame and never looked back with eight extra-base hits.
ACU makes its first road trip of the season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when it takes on Dallas Baptist at Horner Ballpark. The Patriots are one of five teams in the country to reach the NCAA Tournament in each of the past 11 years. The Wildcats earned a 7-1 win over the Patriots in Abilene last season.
A trio of Wildcats registered three hits apiece as
Maddox Miesse,
Sam Hardcastle and
Brady Ladusau combined for nine of ACU's 14 total hits. Miesse got the offensive explosion started in the first inning with a grand slam, reaching base four times and coming around to score three times. He went 5 for 6 at the plate this weekend.
Hardcastle belted the Wildcats' second home run of the game in the second inning for a two-run blast, then rounded out the scoring with an RBI double in the sixth. Ladusau went 4 for 6 in his first three games at the collegiate level with three extra-base hits, including a two-run double and a triple on Sunday.
Diego Cardenas drove in a pair with a two-run single in the third, while
Zandt Payne tallied two hits of his own, each of which came in the first inning.
ACU's pitching staff limited St. Thomas to four hits with seven strikeouts.
Cade McGarrh was credited with the win in three innings, allowing one run and two hits with three punchouts. Freshmen
Baron Mannis and
Grayson McKelvey logged two frames apiece, with Mannis notching three strikeouts and giving up no hits in his first collegiate outing.
The Wildcats got all the runs they needed in the first inning as Payne and
Grant Watkins opened with back-to-back singles. A Cardenas walk loaded the bases for Miesse to send the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence. Ladusau bolstered the lead with a double down the right-field line that plated a couple of runs.
Payne continued the offensive barrage with his second hit of the inning, an RBI triple to bring home Ladusau and push the Wildcats in front, 7-0 through one inning.
ACU added a pair in the next frame with two outs. Miesse kept the inning alive with a single, setting the stage for Hardcastle's first long ball of the season. Cardenas followed with a two-run single in the third, tying Miesse for the team lead in runs batted in with five.
Ladusau tripled in the fourth inning and came home on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly by Baylor transfer
Gavin Brzozowski. Miesse and Hardcastle began the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back doubles, with the latter scoring Miesse.
