WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The ACU Wildcats have suffered disappointing losses in the NCAA regional tournament before, but Friday's 5-4 loss to Incarnate Word might be one of the most gut-wrenching.
The Wildcats dominated the Cardinals for seven innings, but normally reliable closer
Brad Rutherford gave up four hits and three runs in the eighth and ninth innings combined as the Cardinals rallied to beat the Wildcats.
UIW loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth before Matt Flores drove a 3-2 pitch down the line in left field to plate two runs and give the Cardinals the 5-4 win. The Wildcats are now 12-17 all-time in regional tournament games, includinga 4-8 record in one-run games. ACU, in fact, has lost four 5-4 games in its tournament history.
The loss snaps ACU's modest six-game winning streak, but more importantly, it sends the Wildcats (47-14) into the loser's bracket at noon Saturday against St. Mary's. If the Wildcats win that game, they will play again Friday at 7 p.m. against the loser of Saturday's 3:30 p.m. game between Incarnate Word and Central Missouri.
The Wildcats appeared to have things on cruise control as they took a 4-2 lead in the fifth on a two-run home run by Bret Bochsler. That gave
Aaron Lambrix a two-run lead, and it appeared that would be enough the way he was mowing through the Cardinals.
After giving up two runs in the first, Lambrix retied the final two batters of the inning, beginning a stretch that saw him retire eight straight Cardinals. He ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the fifth when Tyler Hicks reached on an error by
Chris Hall and went to second on a Flores single. But Lambrix got out of the jam when he struck out Steven Vidaurri to end the inning.
Lambrix settled in and retired six of the last seven men he faced as he finished the game setting down 20 of the last 24 men he faced. He went seven innings and allowed just five hits and one walk while striking out six Cardinals.
But the Wildcats couldn't muster much offense against the UIW pitching staff, either. After back-to-back solo home runs by
Aaron Oliver and Hall to lead off the game, the Wildcats didn't do much against UIW starter Memo Cienfuegas.
However, they did load the bases in the second with one out, but Hall bounced into an inning-ending double play. After the second, the Wildcats had just three hits the rest of the night.
But two of those hits came in the fifth when Hall led off the inning with a single to left and scored one out later on Bochsler's ninth home run of the year, a shot deep over the wall in right field.
That would be all of the offense the Wildcats could muster, however, as the Cardinals' relief corps of Elroy Urbina and Alfredo Caballero went to work. They combined to throw four innings of one-hit baseball, striking out four batters to give the Cardinal pitching staff 12 strikeouts in the game. Incarnate Word pitchers have struck out 30 batters in two games so far in the tournament.
Leading 4-2, however, ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau went to Rutherford in the eighth to try and close it out as he's done so many times in his two years at ACU.
But Rutherford immediately walked Flores to lead off the eighth, and after a fly ball out, Matt Roohan doubled to right-centerfield to drive in Flores and make it a 4-3 game. After Rutherford hit Reno Malay he struck out Jackson Woodruff and retired pinch-hitter John Zule on a fly ball to right field.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals' Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, Hector Flores and Drew Hamilton -- who between them were 0-5 going into the inning -- led off with back-to-back singles to right to put the game-tying and game-winning runs on base.
Hicks then bunted to move them into scoring position, but he also reached base when Rutherford tried to barehand the ball and flip it to
Steve Camillucci at third and retire the lead runner.
With the bases loaded, Flores worked the count full before lining Rutherford's final pitch of the game past a diving Camillucci and into the left field corner. Flores and Hamilton both scored easily to give the Cardinals the win, setting a wild celebration in the middle of the field.
