ACU Baseball began their season with a stretch against Tarleton State ending with a record of 2-1 coming out of opening weekend. The men’s team won their first game against Tarleton Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader 16-3 in the 7th inning ending the game in a mercy rule.
“We came together, put up a lot of mature at bats in the first game and had a chance to shorten the game up,” head coach Rick McCarty said. “We bounced back during the second game which can be difficult to do. That was a good sign in the early season just maturity there with that.”
ACU went on to beat Tarleton Saturday evening in their second game of the double header 7-2. Sophomore center fielder Grayson Tatrow scored a total of of three runs during the double header. Another key player was sophomore third basemen Bryson Hill who scored a total of four runs for ACU during the doubleheader.
“We were so happy to get back on the field again and to start our season with two wins like that. Everyone was clicking really well and just having fun playing the game again” said Tatrow.
The team then traveled to Stephenville on Sunday for an afternoon game against Tarleton to end their series. ACU lost 4-10 but came out of the series 2-1. Freshman second baseman Cameron Cromer scored a total of two runs in his three times at bat. Hill also scored a run for the ACU Wildcats during this final game.
Coming off of the Tarlton series ACU went against Texas A&M on Tuesday evening. The Wildcats brought home a victory against The Aggies winning 6-5 with junior pinch runner Alexei Cazarin ending a tied game in the 9th inning for ACU. Tatrow and graduate student left fielder Mike Brown, also scored after a wild pitch in the 3rd inning.
“This is the first time we have beat A&M in school history which really gave the team traction going into this season,” said McCarty. “We handled ourselves really well and our guys outplayed them in a lot of ways and found a way to win there in the very end.”
With the victories this past week, the team comes into their next series 3-1. The baseball team with continue their season this Friday at 6:05 p.m. starting their series against New Mexico State. All three games will be played in Abilene at the Crutcher Scott Field.
