Abilene Christian
12-12
New Mexico
15-9
Three Wildcats Go Yard in Loss to Lobos
3/22/2026 5:23:00 PM | Baseball
The Wildcats continue their eight-game road trip versus Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas at 6 p.m. Wednesday. ACU then heads to Lake Charles, La. to play McNeese on March 27-29 in its final series before conference play begins.
Ryan Jones, Grant Watkins and Sam Hardcastle each went yard for the Wildcats, with Watkins picking up his 12th home run of the season. He is second in the Western Athletic Conference in long balls, trailing only teammate Diego Cardenas with 13.
Jones paced ACU with two hits and two runs batted in. Six of the Wildcats' eight hits were for extra bases as Jones, Cardenas and JT Thompson doubled. Cardenas and Thompson extended their hitting streaks to seven games, while Zandt Payne reached base safely for the 18th game in a row.
Carson Wallace, Collin Adams and Grayson McKelvey combined for two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, with Adams making his first appearance of the season. Wallace struck out a pair.
ACU wasn't able to rally from an early deficit for the third game in a row as New Mexico grabbed an 8-0 lead through five innings. Thompson's leadoff double in the sixth gave way to Jones' second home run of the season, a two-run blast. Payne followed with a walk, and Cardenas brought him home with an RBI double.
The Wildcats added a couple more runs in the ninth with back-to-back solo homers by Watkins, a Los Alamos, N.M. native, and Hardcastle.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Alvarez, Diego (1-2)
L: McGarrh, Cade (2-2)
S: Corkrean, Cooper (2)
Batting:
2B: Cardenas, Diego 1 ; Thompson, JT 1 ; Jones, Ryan 1
HR: Hardcastle, Sam 1 ; Watkins, Grant 1 ; Jones, Ryan 1
RBI: Hardcastle, Sam 1 ; Cardenas, Diego 1 ; Watkins, Grant 1 ; Jones, Ryan 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hardcastle, Sam 1 ; Watkins, Grant 1 ; Thompson, JT 1 ; Jones, Ryan 1 ; Payne, Zandt 1
Batting:
2B: Waslefsky, Karsen 1 ; Trujillo, Gene 1 ; Williams, Brodey 1 ; Diaz, Anthony 1
HR: Waslefsky, Karsen 1
RBI: Waslefsky, Karsen 4 ; Ashby, Lenny 2 ; Diaz, Anthony 4 ; Walker, Khalil 1
SH: Williams, Brodey 1
SF: Diaz, Anthony 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mansy, Luke 2 ; Waslefsky, Karsen 1 ; Williams, Brodey 2 ; Carris, Akili 1 ; Diaz, Anthony 3 ; Walker, Khalil 2
SB: Ashby, Lenny 3 ; Diaz, Anthony 2 ; Walker, Khalil 1
HBP: Williams, Brodey 1 ; Rede, Garrett 1 ; Walker, Khalil 1
