The No. 12 Angelo State Rambelles scored five runs on five hits and two errors in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game against Abilene Christian and cashed in on a 7-3 victory in San Angelo.
A pitcher’s duel through the first five innings quickly turned into a slugfest in San Angelo as the Rambelle bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth.
With the win, Angelo State (39-8, 20-4) wins their firth straight Lone Star Conference Championship and clinch the No. 1 seed going into the LSC tournament.
The loss drops the Wildcats (28-13, 14-9) into a tie for third place alongside West Texas A&M and Tarleton State. ACU can either finisher as high as second or as low as sixth in the final conference standings depending on the outcome of their series this weekend against Midwestern State.
“You know, we’re coming down to crunch time and really need to put our best foot forward this weekend against Midwestern,” head coach Bobby Reeves said. “In order to be where we want to be at the end of the regular season, we need to do well this weekend.”
Angelo State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against ACU starter Peyton Mosley in the second inning after Morgan Spearman hit a two-out single that scored two.
“Angelo has a very powerful, dangerous lineup that can hurt you from top to bottom,” Reeves said. “The key is to contain them, and we did not do as well as we’d of liked to Tuesday. They are a talented team.”
Mosley (11-6) settled down after the second, and threw three scoreless innings to follow. Sophomore outfielder Lyndi Smith hit a solo homerun in the top of the sixth to make it a 2-1 game and give the Wildcats some life. The homerun is Smith’s seventh on the year, and she is tied with Kim Briggs for the team lead.
“We have a lot of power hitters as well as speed on the bases and that really helps everyone out for creating RBI opportunities,” Smith said. “It’s nice to have a strong hitting team.”
In the sixth, the first four Rambelle hitters reached base, and then with one out, two players delivered consecutive run-scoring hits that made it a 5-1 game. A second ACU fielding extended ASU’s lead to five, and a follow-up sacrifice fly RBI put the game further out of reach.
As a result of the two ACU errors, only three of the seven runs charged tonight to Mosley were earned. ASU’s Claire Molina won the game opposite Mosley, finishing with six strikeouts.
Briggs hit a two-run homerun in the seventh, and sophomore Madison Buckley led ACU with two hits in the contest.
ACU will wrap up its regular season campaign with a three-game series against Midwestern. Game one will be Friday at 2 p.m. with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon. ACU won its only battle so far against the Mustangs 4-3 on Feb. 17 in a nine-inning pitcher’s duel. Mosley went the distance, throwing all nine innings and allowed only five hits and two earned runs.
