The ACU baseball team continued to struggle this weekend as they fell to East Central University Friday and Sunday. The two losses dropped the Wildcats’ record to 7-10 on the season.
The ‘Cats lost 8-3 Friday but showed some promising signs from freshman Gunnar Buhner, who went 3-for-3 during the game.
Pitcher Kevin Sheets picked up his first loss of the season going 3.2 innings and allowing five hits on the day.
The Wildcats followed up Friday’s performance with a 9-5 loss to East Central. ACU’s bats came alive with 13 hits, but were only able to convert them to five runs.
“A lot of it comes down to timely hits,” head coach Britt Bonneau said. “We are getting the guys on base we just aren’t able to score runs and it’s frustrating.”
The Wildcats had a few bright spots over the weekend including Jordan Forrester, who went 3-for-5 at the plate during Sunday’s game.
Seth Spivey also continued with his solid season and kept his lead in the Southland’s batting average category with a .462 average.
The pitching staff went through a rough patch over weekend allowing 21 hits and 17 runs, but had a good showing from Nate Cole who went three innings only allowing one earned run, including three strikeouts.
Another tough weekend makes the Wildcats 1-8 in their last nine games, but they have finished the toughest part of their schedule this year.
“We played some pretty tough competition,” Bonneau said. “We have had our team in some cool environments and I thought they responded well against Oklahoma in the UTA Tournament.”
ACU played a lot of freshman and sophomores over the last couple of weeks in non-conference play. The experience of these young players against top Div. I competition should prepare the Wildcats for Southland Conference play.
“We just have to continue to get out there and compete,” Bonneau said. “We are building a program and these are the guys that we feel are going to be a great foundation in the future.”
ACU returns to action this Saturday for a weekend series against Alabama A&M. First pitch is at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
