By Joshua Parrott, Sports Writer
Once again, two of three wasn’t good enough for the Wildcat baseball team.
The Wildcats, 22-9 overall and 9-5 in Lone Star Conference South Division play, opened last weekend’s home series against West Texas A&M with a 10-4 victory, but then lost a 7-4 lead in the ninth inning of the second game.
The loss dropped the Wildcats a game lower in the conference standings, behind Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Javelinas are now 11-3 in LSC South play.
The Wildcats did jump from No. 19 in the nation to No. 15 in the most recent Collegiate Baseball magazine poll.
ACU skinned the West Texas A&M Buffaloes Saturday in a 16-6 victory to close out the series. The Wildcats dominated Buffalo pitchers, banging out 21 hits.
Senior third baseman Brad Massey hit safely in four of five at bats and added four RBI.
Senior second baseman Luis Munoz broke out of a season-long slump, going 3 for 5 at the plate along with three RBI.
Junior right-hander Sam Hall picked up his fourth win of the season in the first game of the West Texas series, while junior left-hander Kade Simmons remained perfect on the season after picking up his third win of the season in the blow-out victory over the Buffaloes.
Senior Beau Bimson, who leads the Wildcats in hitting, said the majority of the Wildcats recent struggles had a lot to do with everyone trying to do too much.
“A lot of guys were pressing,” Bimson said.
Bimson said head coach Britt Bonneau has helped his players relax over the course of a long season.
“He knows guys have had their ups and downs,” Bimson said. “He understands what we’re going through because he’s gone through it before.”
The Wildcats are in second place in the LSC South after being picked to win the division for a fourth consecutive year.
ACU hit the road Tuesday to play a doubleheader at East Central in Ada, Okla., but results were unavailable at press time.
The Wildcats return to LSC South action when they head out to Stephenville to take on the Texans of Tarleton State.
The Texans, who took two of three games in Abilene the last time they played the Wildcats, are 8-4 in LSC South play.
The three-game series in Stephenville starts Friday with a doubleheader set to start at 4 p.m.
The Wildcats will close out the series with a single game Saturday at 2 p.m.
All the games can be heard on KSLI 1280 AM.
