AUSTIN – Tuesday afternoon the No. 6 ranked ACU Wildcats saw their eight game winning streak end at the hands of St. Edward's. The Wildcats allowed 11 runs in the first two innings en route to an 18-3 loss at Lucian-Hamilton Field.
The Hilltoppers held ACU to only five hits as they handed the Wildcats only their 17th loss by ten runs or more during head coach Britt Bonneau's tenure. It tied the second largest defeat during Bonneau's tenure, a 15-run loss to Delta State in the 2005 NCAA DII South Central Region Tournament.
Their largest loss came at the hands of Angelo State last year in a 23-6 defeat.
Today the ACU pitching staff was tagged for 18 runs on 14 hits as the Wildcats used six different pitchers on the day. However it was the first two innings that dug the Wildcats into a hole they were unable to recover from.
Starter Kevin Justice allowed six runs on five hits in just an inning of work. Matt James was unable to do any better entering in relief of Justice giving up five runs on three hits. Jordan Hartley worked two scoreless innings for ACU before the Hilltoppers exploded with seven more runs in the fifth off of Ryan McCabe.
ACU did pick up two of their runs via the long ball on Tuesday from Aaron Oliver and Will Calhoun. Oliver drilled his fifth of the season while Calhoun's was his ninth of the season, both were solo shots. The homerun from Calhoun was his 40th RBI of the season which leads the team.
Abe Williams who entered the game in the bottom of the sixth at first base would pick up the only other RBI for ACU. A single that drove in Cameron Bankston who led off the inning with a double; however, the Wildcats would leave Williams on base as the next three batters went 1-2-3.
ACU falls to 38-9 on the season as they will try and pick up their 40th win of the season in Oklahoma. It would mark the sixth consecutive season ACU has won 40 or more games in a season. With nine regular season games left the Wildcats near a program record 47 wins a record set by the 2007 team.
The Wildcats will continue their road swing as they head to Oklahoma for a Lone Star Conference series with Southwestern Oklahoma. Friday and Saturday are both doubleheaders with a first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. both days.
