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Contributed by Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - Garrett McMullen's three-run double in the seventh inning broke open a tight game Sunday afternoon, propelling Stephen F. Austin to a three-game sweep of ACU in Southland Conference baseball action at Crutcher Scott Field.
The Wildcats end the series at 13-28 overall and 5-16 in the league, while the Lumberjacks improve to 23-21 and 11-13. ACU will be back in action next weekend (May 6-8) when it hosts New Orleans in the team's final home series of the 2016 season. Following that game, ACU is home on May 10 against TCU and then on the road at Incarnate Word for three games (May 13-15), at Dallas Baptist (May 17), at Northwestern State (May 19-21) and at Arizona (May 24-25).
The two teams were locked in a tight, 4-2 pitcher's game through six inning as SFA starter Tyler Starks and ACU starter Kyle Carroll controlled most of the game. SFA scored once in the first and third innings before the Wildcats got on the board in the third as Hunter Markwardt scored on a double-steal.
SFA responded with a run in the fourth before ACU got to within 3-2 in the fifth when Markwardt reached on a three-base error by first baseman Slayton Vaughan and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Heath Beasley.
But the Lumberjacks took control of the game in the sixth and seventh innings.
First, Zac Michener drilled a two-out solo home run to right-centerfield to make it a 4-2 game, and then they broke it open in the seventh off Carroll and relief pitcher Nick Palacios. Carroll gave up back-to-back bunt hits in the seventh before the Wildcats got a force out at third on an attempted sacrifice bunt. Carroll then hit Thornell with a 1-2 pitch, which his last of the game.
Palacios was greeted by McMullen, who pulled a 2-1 fastball into the corner in left field, clearing the bases and giving the Lumberjacks a 7-2 lead. The Wildcats didn't mount any serious threats in their final three at-bats as they dropped their seventh straight game.
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