Wildcats' season come to an end

ACU drops pair to Delta State and Central Oklahoma

CLEVELAND, Miss. – One dominating offensive performance and one dominating pitching performance spelled doom for the ACU Wildcats on Friday as they dropped a pair of games and were eliminated from the NCAA Division II South Central Region baseball tournament.

Delta State pounded out 19 hits – including two home runs and one triple – in a 17-2 win over ACU in the championship bracket game earlier Friday.  Central Oklahoma then came back in an elimination game Friday night with a great pitching effort to beat ACU, 2-0, to bring the Wildcats' season to an end.

Delta State – the defending national champion and host of the tournament at Ferriss Field – will host Central Oklahoma in the regional championship game at noon Saturday.  A UCO win would force a decisive championship game, while a Delta State win would send the Statesmen back to Montgomery, Ala., and the Division II College World Series for a chance to defend their national title.

The Statesmen looked every bit the part of future national champions Friday afternoon as they pounded four ACU pitchers for 17 runs in delivering the worst loss in ACU post-season baseball history.  The Statesmen also scored the most runs every by an ACU post-season opponent, topping the old mark of 15.

Ben Brockman, who started the season 10-0, got the start on the mound against Delta State, trying to snap a personal two-game losing streak.  But the Statesmen pounded out eight hits and scored seven runs against Brockman, who left after just 1 2/3 innings of work.  He allowed a three-run home run in the first inning to Craig Newton and a three-run home run to Brett Donahoo in the second before he left the game.

It was 7-0 when he left the game and the Wildcats never really threatened after that.  The Wildcats, in fact, only had one baserunner reach third base through the first seven innings of the game.  ACU finally pushed two runs across in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Joel Wells and an RBI single by Ruben Rivera.

The Statesmen scored three runs in the first, four in the second, three in the fourth, six in the fifth and one in the sixth for their 17 runs.  Brad Lightsey , who now leads the nation with 13 wins against just one loss, picked up the win, going six innings and allowing just five hits while striking out six.  The Wildcats, in fact, only had eight hits – all singles – in the game against three DSU pitchers.

ACU then had to immediately turn around and play an elimination game against the Bronchos, who were forced into the loser's bracket by ACU's come-from-behind 12-11 win on Thursday.  The Bronchos stayed alive Friday morning with a 5-2 elimination-game win over West Alabama, setting up the rematch against ACU.

Three years ago, these two teams met in the same situation and the Wildcats won 10-2 to move into the championship game.  But the Wildcats were again stifled offensively, picking up just six hits – again all singles – and not scoring at all.

Chris Jones was the Wildcat killer in the game as he threw 7 2/3 innings, allowing no runs on five hits and striking out five Wildcats to improve to 8-2.  Chris Elam picked up his fifth save, shutting down ACU over the last 1 1/3 innings.

The Bronchos scored the only two runs of the game in the first inning when Brandon Bacon delivered a two-out, two run single that scored Nick Thigpen and Beau Sullivan.  But after giving up three hits and two runs in the first inning, ACU starting pitcher Brandon Moore was fantastic.  The junior righthander took the loss to fall to 9-1, but he allowed just four hits over eight tough innings of work and retired 19 of the last 23 Bronchos he faced.

Just as in the first game, the Wildcats had nothing going offensively until the late innings when they put something together in the eighth inning, thanks to the most unlikely of sources.  Seldom-used Morgan Colonel came off the bench with two outs in the eighth and got a pinch-hit single – his first hit of the year – to keep the eighth alive.  Cody Cure followed with his eighth hit of the tournament, moving Colonel to second.

When Ryan Barker – who played the final game of his marvelous four-year career in the loss to UCO – was hit by a pitch, the Wildcats had the bases loaded and a chance to at least get the game tied.  But Elam got Brenan Herrera to bounce out to Bryan Belford at shortstop to end the inning and the threat.  The Wildcats went up and down in order in the ninth inning to end the game and their season.

The game was the final game in the career of Barker, who finishes as the Lone Star Conference and ACU career leader in both RBI (191) and doubles (58), No. 2 on the ACU all-time list in runs scored (184) and hits (256), No. 3 in total bases (379), and No. 7 in home runs (19).

Friday's loss to UCO also represented the final collegiate game in the career of Cure, the ACU centerfielder whose eighth hit of the tournament left with him with 92 on the season, tying the ACU all-time single-season record set in 1999 by Marc Thompson.  He also finished the season with 27 doubles to set an ACU single-season record.

The game also represented the final game for other ACU seniors Dan Gubbels, Jason Kennedy, Herrera, Justin Whitlock, Coy Polk, J-Bob Thomas, Tyrrell Henley and Kade Simmons.