HOUSTON – Abilene Christian broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on to defeat HBU, 4-2, in the Southland Conference series opener Friday afternoon at Husky Field.
Senior leftfielder
Jordan McCoy hit a solo home run for Huskies (18-20, 7-12 SLC) to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, while senior shortstop
CJ Jarvis went 2-for-2 and walked twice. Junior rightfielder
Thomas Clay went 2-for-4 and scored a run, junior third baseman
Curtis Jones was 2-for-5 with an RBI, and junior catcher
Samm Wiggins was 2-for-3 with a double.
Seth Spivey went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run, while Tyler Eager doubled, drove in a pair and scored a run for ACU (15-23, 5-8). Emil Litterer went 2-for-4, and Colton Hall doubled and scored.
Nick Palacios (1-0) picked up the win for ACU, pitching one scoreless inning, while Kevin Sheets earned his third save of the year, giving up a run on four hits in three innings. Wildcats starter Russell Crippen allowed one run on five hits and walked a pair in five innings.
Junior
Taylor Wright (2-7) allowed four runs on nine hits in six-plus innings with two strikeouts and three walks. Sophomore
Matthew McCollough held ACU to one hit over the final three innings.
Hall doubled to lead off the fifth, was safe at third when Grant deMeyer laid down a sacrifice bunt, then scored on a bunt single by Spivey.
The Huskies tied the game on McCoy's solo home run to left, his third of the season, but first ever at Husky Field.
In the seventh, Spivey and Forrester led off with back-to-back singles, then came home on Eager's two-run double to the gap in leftcenter. Brandon Grudzielanek added an RBI single to give the Wildcats a 4-1 lead.
HBU tried to mount a two-out comeback in the bottom of the ninth. With no one on base, Clay, Jarvis, and Jones strung together consecutive singles to cut the Wildcats' lead to 4-2, but senior first baseman
Bradley Brown flied out to left to end the game.
The series continues Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch, followed by the finale Sunday at 2 p.m.