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Contributed by Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - Friday night's series-opener between ACU and Southeastern Louisiana featured a matchup between two of the top of the pitchers in the Southland Conference, and they each pitched like it on a cold and windy night at Crutcher Scott Field.
But the Southeastern Louisiana's ace, Kyle Cedotal, showed why he is considered one of the top pitchers in the country as he out-dueled ACU ace, Kyle Carroll , to lead the Lions to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory.
Cedotal gave up three runs in the first inning - all unearned - but then absolutely shut down the Wildcats' offense, finishing his outing by retiring the final 18 Wildcats he faced from the end of the second inning until he left the game with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the tying run on second base.
Cedotal, a lefthanded senior out of Denham Springs, La., was extended to 23 pitches in the first inning by an ACU offense that took advantage of one of the strangest fielding errors ever seen at Crutcher Scott and a wind-blown home run to right field to take a 3-0 lead. But Cedotal needed just 80 pitches over his final 6 2/3 innings of work to come away with the win that improved him to 3-2 on the season.
"He (Cedotal) is a great pitcher, and that was obvious (Friday night)," ACU head coach Britt Bonneau said. "Our thought our guys had the right approach throughout the game. We battled and were able to get on the board early. But Cedotal got through our lineup pretty easily after that first inning. We had some chances at the end of the game, but things just didn't go our way. But I thought our guys competed very well against one of the best pitchers in the nation."
Of the 18 straight hitters Cedotal retired, only four of the Wildcats hit the ball out of the infield, and he struck out four Wildcats. He finished his night with a line of 7 2/3 innings of work, three hits and three runs allowed, one walk and four strikeouts. He left the game with two outs in the bottom of the eighth after ACU freshman shortstop Mark Pearson shot a ball off the wall in right field for a standup double.
Pearson's shot hit about 3 fee from the top of the wall, coming that close to a game-tying solo home run. But Kade Granier came into the game and struck out Aaron Draper to end the inning and then worked around a two-out single by Russell Crippen in the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
The Wildcats broke on top with three runs in the first, although all three were unearned. Draper led off the game with a single to left-centerfield and went to second when it looked like freshman outfielder Hunter Markwardt had laid down a sacrifice bunt.
However, Southeastern Louisiana first baseman Jameson Fisher never tagged Markwardt after fielding the bunt. With everyone watching Draper move to second and Markwardt still not having been tagged, he moved around Fisher and dove headfirst for the bag and was called safe. Fisher's play was ruled an error, surely one of the strangest fielding errors in the 25 years of Crutcher Scott Field.
The Wildcats made the Lions pay when Draper moved to third on a groundout by Crippen and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Braxton Wilks that should have been the third out of the inning. Senior Heath Beasley then really made the error hurt when he lofted a 2-2 pitch from Cedotal down the right field line that looked like it was going to drift foul.
But the ball suddenly straightened up and dropped over the wall 310 feet away, tucking itself just inside the foul pole for a two-run home run and a 3-0 lead.
Fisher made up for his error in the third inning when he drove a pitch from Carroll over the wall in centerfield for a two-run home run to cut ACU's lead to 3-2. The Lions would take the lead and score the game's final two runs in the fourth when Carson Crites led off with a double and went to third on a groundout to second base by Chris Eades.
Taylor Schwaner then drove in the game-tying run with a single to center field, scoring Crites. After a stolen base and a groundout, Brennan Breaud drove in the eventual game-winning run with a single to left, driving in Schwaner.
Carroll - who fell to 2-3 with the loss - scattered eight hits and four runs over six innings while throwing 117 pitches.
"I thought Carroll gave us a great game," Bonneau said. "He competed and kept us in the game. He was a bulldog out there, and his ability to stay on the mound and gut it out through six innings really preserved our bullpen. We had some chances offensively at the end, but we just couldn't get another run across."
The Wildcats are now 9-8 overall and 2-2 in the Southland, while the Lions improve to 12-6 and 4-0. The series will continue Saturday with a single game at 2 p.m. before the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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ABILENE - Friday night's series-opener between ACU and Southeastern Louisiana featured a matchup between two of the top of the pitchers in the Southland Conference, and they each pitched like it on a cold and windy night at Crutcher Scott Field.
But the Southeastern Louisiana's ace, Kyle Cedotal, showed why he is considered one of the top pitchers in the country as he out-dueled ACU ace, Kyle Carroll , to lead the Lions to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory.
Cedotal gave up three runs in the first inning - all unearned - but then absolutely shut down the Wildcats' offense, finishing his outing by retiring the final 18 Wildcats he faced from the end of the second inning until he left the game with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the tying run on second base.
Cedotal, a lefthanded senior out of Denham Springs, La., was extended to 23 pitches in the first inning by an ACU offense that took advantage of one of the strangest fielding errors ever seen at Crutcher Scott and a wind-blown home run to right field to take a 3-0 lead. But Cedotal needed just 80 pitches over his final 6 2/3 innings of work to come away with the win that improved him to 3-2 on the season.
"He (Cedotal) is a great pitcher, and that was obvious (Friday night)," ACU head coach Britt Bonneau said. "Our thought our guys had the right approach throughout the game. We battled and were able to get on the board early. But Cedotal got through our lineup pretty easily after that first inning. We had some chances at the end of the game, but things just didn't go our way. But I thought our guys competed very well against one of the best pitchers in the nation."
Of the 18 straight hitters Cedotal retired, only four of the Wildcats hit the ball out of the infield, and he struck out four Wildcats. He finished his night with a line of 7 2/3 innings of work, three hits and three runs allowed, one walk and four strikeouts. He left the game with two outs in the bottom of the eighth after ACU freshman shortstop Mark Pearson shot a ball off the wall in right field for a standup double.
Pearson's shot hit about 3 fee from the top of the wall, coming that close to a game-tying solo home run. But Kade Granier came into the game and struck out Aaron Draper to end the inning and then worked around a two-out single by Russell Crippen in the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
The Wildcats broke on top with three runs in the first, although all three were unearned. Draper led off the game with a single to left-centerfield and went to second when it looked like freshman outfielder Hunter Markwardt had laid down a sacrifice bunt.
However, Southeastern Louisiana first baseman Jameson Fisher never tagged Markwardt after fielding the bunt. With everyone watching Draper move to second and Markwardt still not having been tagged, he moved around Fisher and dove headfirst for the bag and was called safe. Fisher's play was ruled an error, surely one of the strangest fielding errors in the 25 years of Crutcher Scott Field.
The Wildcats made the Lions pay when Draper moved to third on a groundout by Crippen and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Braxton Wilks that should have been the third out of the inning. Senior Heath Beasley then really made the error hurt when he lofted a 2-2 pitch from Cedotal down the right field line that looked like it was going to drift foul.
But the ball suddenly straightened up and dropped over the wall 310 feet away, tucking itself just inside the foul pole for a two-run home run and a 3-0 lead.
Fisher made up for his error in the third inning when he drove a pitch from Carroll over the wall in centerfield for a two-run home run to cut ACU's lead to 3-2. The Lions would take the lead and score the game's final two runs in the fourth when Carson Crites led off with a double and went to third on a groundout to second base by Chris Eades.
Taylor Schwaner then drove in the game-tying run with a single to center field, scoring Crites. After a stolen base and a groundout, Brennan Breaud drove in the eventual game-winning run with a single to left, driving in Schwaner.
Carroll - who fell to 2-3 with the loss - scattered eight hits and four runs over six innings while throwing 117 pitches.
"I thought Carroll gave us a great game," Bonneau said. "He competed and kept us in the game. He was a bulldog out there, and his ability to stay on the mound and gut it out through six innings really preserved our bullpen. We had some chances offensively at the end, but we just couldn't get another run across."
The Wildcats are now 9-8 overall and 2-2 in the Southland, while the Lions improve to 12-6 and 4-0. The series will continue Saturday with a single game at 2 p.m. before the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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