Wildcts split, but win LSC South title

ACU wins first outright LSC South crown since 2002

ABILENE -- Abilene Christian University clinched its first outright Lone Star Conference South Division championship since 2002 on Friday with a doubleheader split with Eastern New Mexico at Crutcher Scott Field and an Angelo State loss at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

ACU won the first game of Friday's doubleheader against ENMU, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 6-4 win.  That win, coupled with second-place Angelo State's 3-2 loss at Kingsville gave the Wildcats the division crown.  The Greyhounds came back in the nightcap to shutout the Wildcats, 5-0, handing ACU junior righthander Ben Brockman his first loss of the season.

The Wildcats are now 39-14 on the season and 14-4 in the LSC South Division, while Angelo State falls to 10-8 after it lost both games Friday at Angelo State.  ENMU moved into a second-place tie with the split on Friday, improving to 26-25 overall and 10-8 in the LSC South.  Saturday's doubleheader at Crutcher Scott Field gets started at noon and that twinbill marks the final two conference games of the season for both ACU and ENMU.

ACU -- ranked No. 5 in the nation and No. 2 in the NCAA Division II South Central Region -- clinched the title in the first game, but it wasn't easy as the Greyhounds held a 3-2 lead until ACU posted single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.  Wildcat starter Ben Maynard gave up three runs on a pair of hits in the first two innings of the game befor settling down and posting four straight scoreless innings.

Maynard's effectiveness through the middle innings allowed ACU's offense to get going as it put up runs in the fourth and fifth innings.  ACU got the game tied at 3-3 in the fourth when Ruben Rivera singled with one out and scored on an Alec Sowards single.  The Wildcats took the lead in the fifth when Joel Wells doubled with one out and scored on a Johnny Zepeda single.

But the Greyhounds managed to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the seventh when Brett Scherer collected a two-out RBI single, the third straight Greyhound two-out hit.

The Wildcats, however, answered with two runs in the bottom of the eighth, both with two outs.  Wells singled to lead off the inning, and then pinch-runner Dan Gubbels was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.  After Rivera grounded out for the second out, Chris Walsh singled on a 3-2 pitch to drive in Gubbels with the eventual game-winning run.  After a wild pitch moved Walsh to second, pinch-hitter J-Bob Thomas drove him home with an insurance run.

Kade Simmons pitched two innings of one-hit baseball to pick up the win as he improved to 3-0 on the season.

In the nightcap, Brockman was tagged for five runs on nine hits in six innings as he fell to 10-1 on the season.  The Greyhounds scored two runs in the third and three in the sixth to grab the win.  David Swinconos went the distance for the Greyhounds to pick up the win as he allowed just three hits as ACU was shut out for just the second time this season and for the first time since an 8-0 loss to Central Oklahoma on Feb. 26.