CU Baseball goes 1-3 vs. No. 7 ACU
ABILENE, Texas (March 19) – The Aggie baseball team (12-3, 0-0 LSC) faced a very tough opponent in taking on the No. 7 nationally ranked Abilene Christian Wildcats. Cameron played well the entire weekend but came away with just one win.
The Aggies split the first double-header, losing the first game 5-2 and winning the second 5-3. On Sunday CU lost the first game in a 3-2 heartbreaker, and fell in the second by the score 17-1.
“We played pretty well this weekend,” Head Coach Todd Holland said. “We committed a lot of errors but were still able to give ourselves a chance to win against the No. 7 team in the nation.”
The Aggies committed 2 errors and were held to just 2 runs on 4 hits in the first game. The four hits came courtesy of seniors Ryan Whiteley (leftfielder), Blake Hughes (shortstop), B.J. Cole (thirdbaseman), and junior Brooks Pollard (rightfielder).
Whiteley finished the game 1-3 at the plate with a double and strikeout. Hughes also went 1-3 with an RBI. Cole too went 1-3 and Pollard went 1-2 in the game.
Junior pitcher Bevon Anderson went six innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits. He faced 29 Wildcat batters.
Cameron bounced back in the second game, putting up 4 runs in the very first inning. The Aggies recorded an impressive 9 hits and limited themselves to just a single error.
The duo of senior pitchers Ryan Totte and Ryan Bengert held ACU to only three runs. Totte went six innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. He struck out 1 after facing 23 batters to record the win. Bengert entered the game in the seventh and gave up just one hit after facing four batters to record the save.
Offensively for CU, Hughes had a great day at the plate going 3-4 with a trio of singles and a strikeout.
Infielders Bryan Nichols (junior, firstbaseman) and Blake Watson (freshman, thirdbaseman) led the team recording 2 RBI each. Nichols finished 1-3 with a strikeout and Watson went 1-2.
On Sunday the teams opened up with an incredibly close game. Cameron started out with an early 1-0 lead but the game was deadlocked at 2 after six innings. The Wildcats won the game on an RBI single to centerfield in the bottom of the final inning.
“We had a chance to win but just couldn’t get that final run,” Coach Holland said. “They (ACU) scored in last inning and hit the ball pretty well.”
Junior pitcher J.W. Koweno had a solid game on the mound, going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs on just 5 hits. He also walked 1 and struck out 2.
The Aggies were again limited offensively, recording just three hits all game. Their hits came courtesy of Watson, Whiteley, and junior firstbaseman Josh Mathiesen. Watson and Whiteley both went 1-3 at the plate with Watson recording an RBI and Whiteley a strikeout. Mathiesen went 1-2 with both an RBI and a strikeout.
In the nightcap, it appeared that the Aggies couldn’t recover from their earlier 3-2 heartbreaker and failed to get back in focus. CU was down 9-1 after three innings, and down 17-1 after six. The Ags also committed 5 errors in the game.
Pitchers Cody Dillon (junior) and Corey Clowers (sophomore) both went 2.2 innings and gave up each of ACU’s runs. Dillon gave up 9 runs on 7 hits after facing 19 batters and Clowers gave up 8 runs on 11 hits after facing 20 batters.
Offensively just five Aggie players recorded a hit. Mathiesen, Cole, Pollard, junior leftfielder Jorey Price, and junior catcher Kyle Walbrick all reached base. Cole recorded a triple and Pollard recorded a double.
“It was one of those games where we just couldn’t get it,” Coach Holland said. “After losing a heartbreaker like we did in the first game, it was hard to get back into it. Now we are going to try to keep our heads up and go on to ASU.”
The Aggies host Angelo State University this weekend with a double-header scheduled for both Friday and Saturday. The double-headers begin at 1:00pm on Friday and 12:00pm on Saturday.
