ACU left little doubt over the weekend on whether they have bounced back from their losing skid, while sweeping Seattle U in a three-game series on the road. With wins of 15-1, 16-5, and 6-2, the Wildcats improved to 27-15 on the year and 11-7 in WAC play.
“I was really proud of our guys,” Head Coach Rick McCarty said. “It’s tough to sweep on the road. It’s a long trip. We were delayed a couple of hours, arrived at the field late, and still the guys came out and did a really good job.”
Friday’s opener saw some offense on display as the Wildcats crossed the plate for 15 runs on 15 hits.
Zandt Payne, senior infielder from Edmond, Oklahoma, led the charge for the Wildcats, going 4-for-5 on the night with a double, RBI, and three runs scored. Grant Watkins, junior infielder from Los Alamos, New Mexico, also had himself a day at the office, homering and driving in two RBIs. Dominick Reid, junior right-handed pitcher from Little Elm, pitched a gem as well, earning the win on the mound with six innings of one-run baseball, striking out eight.
The offense kept rolling Saturday in a 16-run outburst. Payne continued his hot streak, collecting three hits and four RBIs, and Diego Cardenas, junior infielder from El Paso, and Reese Borho, sophomore outfielder from Abilene, each contributed two hits. Brett Lanman, sophomore left-handed pitcher from Fairview, earned his sixth victory, sending home seven in 5.2 innings.
ACU completed the series Sunday with a closer 6-2 victory behind Watkins’ second home run of the weekend and a 2-for-4 day from Cardenas. Cade McGarrh, junior right-handed pitcher from Frisco, went five innings while just giving up one for the win, and Chandler Benson, senior left-handed pitcher from Frisco, and Henry Cone, junior right-handed pitcher from Brenham, closed it out.
“Our starting pitching was very good this weekend. Dom, Brett, Cade — they gave us good starts,” McCarty said.
At the forefront of the Wildcats’ recent fortunes has been the return of Payne from a finger injury.
“Z’s a gamer, man,” McCarty said. “He makes our team better in so many ways.”
The team was supposed to face its toughest stretch of the year thus far. A Wednesday visit to play No. 4-ranked Dallas Baptist was just canceled as of Tuesday night. However, a three-game home series with Indiana will take place this weekend.
“There’s a four-game stretch here of a regional-like atmosphere,” McCarty said. “Indiana’s consistently in regionals. It’s gonna take a lot of different dudes to get through it.”
Still, McCarty is excited about the road to navigate ahead, as playing these tough programs is a part of being the best.
“Our goal is unapologetically to be the best faith-based baseball program in the country,” McCarty said.
