ACU Purple managed to pull off a 9-6 victory against ACU White in a neck-to-neck tiebreaker game which held an even score until the ninth inning, to win the inaugural three-game Al Scott Fall World Series at Crutcher Scott Field Saturday afternoon.
With the score tied at 6-6 going into the final inning, freshman Cameron Bonifant lifted a double into left field with bases loaded to score teammates Seth Spivey, Tyler Eager and Cameron Sterne, who started the two-out rally after taking a pitch to the helmet from ACU White reliever Nick Palacios. Following the final out from his team, ACU Purple pitcher Ty Walker kept White from scoring again. Though he gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with two outs, he ended the game with a strikeout to Taylor Waters, clinching the series victory for Purple.
The teams were evenly matched throughout the series. Purple took an early lead in the first game on Thursday, jumping ahead 6-0 in the first inning after a hit-by-pitch, a walk, two errors and a series of hits from the strong lineup. White tried to come back, plating four runs throughout the remainder of the game, but Purple’s momentum was too strong. They took game one with a final score of 12-4, putting them only one win away from a series sweep.
But as strong as the Purple lineup was, game two saw them stumped by the sharp pitching from White, which was clearly not ready to go home without a fight. Starter Kevin Sheets struck out five batters in as many innings and allowed only three hits, while Stuart Patke struck out six more after coming in to start the sixth. White was able to score three runs in the ninth inning off of pitchers Levi Broeske and Nick Palacios, but Purple’s six runs were able to get them the win.
With neither team backing down until the last out of the game was made, Saturday’s tiebreaker proved that ACU baseball is competitive and resilient. Also, based off of all three games being high-scored for both teams, the team displays a very strong offense, which will likely be the key to success in the its first season of Div. I play.
“I think we have prepared ourselves for the spring very well this fall,” said infielder Emil Litterer. “We still have some work to do over December and January, but I predict a strong opening season. This is a good group of guys who hustle and put in a lot of hard work.”
