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Contributed by Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - The ACU Wildcats ran into a buzzsaw Friday night at Crutcher Scott Field as Sam Houston State pounded out 16 hits and rode the right arm of Heath Donica for seven innings as the Bearkats handed the Wildcats their seventh straight loss, 16-6, in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference baseball series.
The series was scheduled to have concluded Sunday, but with rain in the forecast for that day, the teams will conclude the series with a 2 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Crutcher Scott Field. The Wildcats are now 9-14 overall and 1-9 in the league, while the Bearkats improve to 18-8 and 7-0. They are now in first place in the league standings after Southeastern Louisiana knocked off previously undefeated McNeese (9-1 in league play), 10-2, Friday night.
The Bearkats scored in seven of their nine at-bats, including scoring multiple runs in the first (two runs), fourth (four runs), seventh (two runs) and ninth (two runs). Four ACU pitchers combined to give up the 16 hits and 13 runs while striking out five Sam Houston State hitters and walking three. The Wildcats hurt themselves with four errors in the contest, leading to a pair of unearned runs.
Sam Houston State right fielder Clayton Harp was 3 for 6 with two runs scored and four RBI in the game, the only Bearkat with more than one RBI in the contest.
That offensive output backed up Donica - the league's leader in strikeouts with 46 entering the game - who went seven innings and gave up just five hits to pick up the win and run his record to 5-1. Donica gave up just one walk and struck out four Wildcats en route to the win.
Derek Scott and Russell Crippen each had a pair of hits for the Wildcats as Scott drove in a run in the third inning with a double to right-centerfield, and Crippen had a single and scored in the fourth and then drove his fourth home run of the season over the wall in the ninth inning for the final run of the contest. The fourth-inning single extended Crippen's hit streak to 23 games this season and pushes it to 24 straight games dating back to the last game of the 2016 season.
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ABILENE - The ACU Wildcats ran into a buzzsaw Friday night at Crutcher Scott Field as Sam Houston State pounded out 16 hits and rode the right arm of Heath Donica for seven innings as the Bearkats handed the Wildcats their seventh straight loss, 16-6, in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference baseball series.
The series was scheduled to have concluded Sunday, but with rain in the forecast for that day, the teams will conclude the series with a 2 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Crutcher Scott Field. The Wildcats are now 9-14 overall and 1-9 in the league, while the Bearkats improve to 18-8 and 7-0. They are now in first place in the league standings after Southeastern Louisiana knocked off previously undefeated McNeese (9-1 in league play), 10-2, Friday night.
The Bearkats scored in seven of their nine at-bats, including scoring multiple runs in the first (two runs), fourth (four runs), seventh (two runs) and ninth (two runs). Four ACU pitchers combined to give up the 16 hits and 13 runs while striking out five Sam Houston State hitters and walking three. The Wildcats hurt themselves with four errors in the contest, leading to a pair of unearned runs.
Sam Houston State right fielder Clayton Harp was 3 for 6 with two runs scored and four RBI in the game, the only Bearkat with more than one RBI in the contest.
That offensive output backed up Donica - the league's leader in strikeouts with 46 entering the game - who went seven innings and gave up just five hits to pick up the win and run his record to 5-1. Donica gave up just one walk and struck out four Wildcats en route to the win.
Derek Scott and Russell Crippen each had a pair of hits for the Wildcats as Scott drove in a run in the third inning with a double to right-centerfield, and Crippen had a single and scored in the fourth and then drove his fourth home run of the season over the wall in the ninth inning for the final run of the contest. The fourth-inning single extended Crippen's hit streak to 23 games this season and pushes it to 24 straight games dating back to the last game of the 2016 season.
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