By Daniel Johnson, Sports Writer
The No. 4 Wildcat baseball team continued its regular season success and retained its first place conference standing Easter weekend. The team extended its record to 8-4 and 31-13 overall with three wins over Texas A&M-Kingsville at Crutcher Scott Field.
In addition to the team’s overall success this weekend, designated hitter Joel Wells reserved his spot in the history books by breaking the single season home run record with his 13th homer in game three of the series.
While the rest of the campus was taking a break on Good Friday, the Wildcats’ pitching led the charge on a two game sweep in the first day of action.
The Wildcats dealt Kingsville pitcher Chris White his first loss of the season in the 4-3 victory of game one. Brian Kennedy led off for the Wildcats, allowing only three runs in six innings and striking out the Kingsville lineup four times. After the Kingsville Javelinas took an initial one run lead in the fourth, the Wildcats’ scored two in the fifth off of RBI from both shortstop Ruben Rivera and first basemen Danny Williams. Kingsville took the lead once more in the seventh with two more runs, and after the Wildcats scored two more of their own, Rivera took the mound and recorded his fifth save of the season.
In game two, Wildcat ace Chris Wiman became the star of the day once he pitched a one-hit treasure for his seventh win of the season. The only runs for the Wildcats in the 2-0 victory both came from a double and single off catcher Jordan Schmitt’s bat in the second and fourth innings. The two runs proved enough for the win, as Wiman only hit in the sixth inning. In addition to two RBI, Schmitt picked off two Javelinas attempting to steal second in the win.
“Despite having three bad starts before Friday night, my team stayed behind me, and that is mainly what did it,” Wiman said.
On Saturday, the Wildcats missed the opportunity to sweep the weekend after splitting two games with the Javelinas.
Following the previous day’s pitching duels, the two teams met in Saturday’s first game for an all out slugfest that ended with the Wildcats on top 12-9. The Wildcats broke Kingsville’s original 2-1 lead with five runs in the third inning. Third baseman Alec Sowards led the rally with a RBI double and was followed by another RBI from center fielder Chris Walsh. Rivera topped off the inning with a three run double pulling the Wildcats ahead 6-2. Kingsville answered right back with five runs of its own the following inning, pulling ahead once more by a single run. The Javelina lead didn’t last the inning, however, as the Wildcats capitalized on an error to score three runs off another single from Rivera. Right fielder Minor Alexander added to the new lead with an RBI that brought in Rivera. The Wildcats final two runs came from Wells’ record-breaking home run in the fifth inning. Wells set the new record at 13 after overcoming ACU alumni Brad Massey and Brandon McNab.
“Honestly, I never even thought about breaking a record,” Wells said. “I always expect to do well, and it feels great to be in the company of a past mentor like Brad Massey.”
The Wildcats failed to carry over their offensive success to the final game against Kingsville, falling 13-1. The Javelinas took advantage of three defensive errors on the Wildcats’ part and rocked starting pitcher Jason Kennedy in his first loss of the season. Kingsville’s Brandon Hevner held the Wildcats to five hits and a single run. Despite the loss, freshman pitcher Matt Sullivan struck out five Javelinas in two innings pitched. The Wildcats switched out pitchers four times in the final game, as they continue to search for a consistent fourth starter.
