By Brandon Tripp, Sports Writer

The ACU baseball team won the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament Tuesday with a 6-0 shutout of rival Angelo State. The Wildcats capped off a perfect 5-0 weekend in the tournament with the win.

Preston Vancil gave ACU solid pitching from the start, retiring the first six batters he faced. Vancil finished the game going seven innings and giving up just 4 hits while striking out three Rams’ batters.

In the bottom of the first inning, catcher Jordan Schmitt doubled to center field bringing in Chris Hall for the first run of the game. Schmitt’s hit made him the Lone Star Conference’s all-time hits leader, breaking former Wildcat Matt Davidson’s record of 278 hits. Schmitt would add one more hit to his total in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Wildcats would finish the first inning with a 2-0 lead.

After adding another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Wildcats extended their lead when Davis Page and Willie Uechi scored on an error by ASU third baseman Austin Lasprilla.

ACU added one more in the bottom of the eighth, before Brad Rutherford shutdown the Rams in the ninth to give the Wildcats their first LSC Overall Championship since 2002.

The Wildcats have qualified for the NCAA South Central Region Championships for the second-straight year, and for the seventh time under the leadership of head coach Britt Bonneau.

See Wednesday’s online and print edition of The Optimist for full coverage of the game.