ABILENE -- On a day full of big hits and momentum swings, it was ACU centerfielder
Aaron Oliver who came up with the last big swing and gave his team the last bit of momentum it needed to complete a four-game sweep of rival Angelo State.
Oliver's three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh late Saturday night gave ACU a 15-13 lead and propeled the Wildcats to a 16-14 win over the Rams in the nightcap, giving ACU a four-game sweep of its rival in a Lone Star Conference rival at Crutcher Scott Field. Earlier in the day, the Wildcats won the first game of the doubleheader, 16-8.
With the sweep on Saturday, the 12th-ranked Wildcats improve to 27-7 overall and 18-6 in the LSC, while the struggling Rams fall to 19-18 and 13-15. ACU will be back in action Tuesday at 4:05 p.m. when it hosts Texas Wesleyan in a non-conference doubleheader at Crutcher Scott Field.
The Rams, who were dominated and outscored by a cumulative 31-8 in the first three games of the series, came out firing in the nightcap, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead in the third, thanks to a two-run home run by Zak Leonhardt.
The lead was 6-4 when ACU rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth as the Wildcats took a 9-6 lead.
Travis Latz had a two-run single,
Steve Camillucci an RBI single and Oliver an RBI groundout as the Wildcats regained the lead.
But the Rams answered with a six-run fifth inning with the big hits coming off the bats of Jason Morriss (two-run triple) and Leonhardt (two-run single).
But when ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau went to the bullpen in relief of starter Will Calhoun,
Matt James,
Chay Lytle and
Brad Rutherford responded. Those three combined to throw 4 2/3 innings, allowing just five hits and three runs.
That relief work allowed the Wildcats to eventually regain the lead.
ACU got to within 12-11 in the sixth on an RBI triple by Bret Bochsler and an RBI sacrifice fly by
Travis Latz. The Wildcats then won the game with five runs in the seventh, a frame highlighted by Oliver's three-run home run to left-centerfield. Bochsler added a solo shot with two outs in the inning to put the Wildcats on top 16-13.
In four games, Oliver tortured the Rams with 10 hits in 18 at-bats, five runs scored and 11 RBI. He had one double, one triple and one home run among his 10 hits and he stole three bases in three attempts.
As a team the Wildcats hit .414 in the series, outscoring the Rams 47-22 and banging out 16 extra-base hits among their 53 hits.
In Saturday's first game, Willie Uechi, Calhoun and Bochsler each drove in three runs, while Oliver,
Cameron Bankston and
Chris Hall each had two RBI.
Calhoun had a two-run home run in the first and a solo shot in the fifth, while Bochsler had a three-run shot in a six-run second inning that gave ACU an 8-2 lead. After ASU pulled to within 8-6 with a four-run third, the Wildcats scored three runs in the third and three more in the fourth to pull away.
Uechi had a two-run double in the third and Bankston added a two-run double in the fourth as the big hits in each inning.
