Athletic Report
March 23, 2002

ACU WINS PITCHERS' DUEL WITH ENMU, 3-0
Wildcats Score all 3 Runs in 8th Inning
ABILENE, TX – For seven and a half innings, the Eastern New Mexico University Greyhounds and 23rd-ranked Abilene Christian University battled to a scoreless tie on Saturday, Mar. 23 at Crutcher Scott Field. ACU tallied three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning of the scheduled 9-inning contest, and defeated the Greyhounds, 3-0, in Lone Star Conference action.

The win gave ACU a sweep of the 3-game series, but the Wildcats had to battle for two of the wins. In the first of two games on Friday, Mar. 22, Abilene needed three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge ENMU, 4-3. ACU also won the second game, 6-1. ACU, now 21-1 at home, improved to 26-7 overall and to 11-3 in the LSC South. Two of the Wildcats’ three LSC losses occurred at ENMU, Feb. 22-23, when the Greyhounds won two of three games. ENMU is now 9-22 overall, 6-9 in the LSC South.

The pitchers’ duel on Mar. 23 matched Eastern’s Jerry Macias (Jr., RHP, Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces H.S.) against Frankie Keller of ACU. Keller improved to 4-0 with the win, while Macias dropped to 0-5 with the loss. Macias also suffered a tough loss on Mar. 10, when he allowed just 2 earned runs in a 7-4, complete-game loss against Colorado School of Mines. Macias threw 7 1/3 innings against Abilene. He gave up 7 hits in the first 7 innings, while striking out 3 batters and allowing no walks.

ACU managed a sacrifice bunt by Oscar Vargas and a run-scoring double by Louis Munoz to bring home pinch-runner Beau Bimson with the game’s first run in the eighth inning. Bimson ran for Blake Hughes, who opened the inning with a single.

Trevor Davis (Fr., RHP, Evergreen, CO/Evergreen H.S.) faced the next two batters. He intentionally walked Clay Chesser to put runners at first and second. Munoz and Chesser advanced one base on a passed ball, then Chris Churchill drove in both runs with a single.

Ian Thurman-Kelly (So., LHP, Denver, CO/Lamar C.C.) picked off Churchill at first base to end the inning. Keller pitched 8 innings for ACU. He allowed just 3 hits and recorded 7 strikeouts. He also gave up one walk.

Dallas McMann (Jr., C/DH, Amarillo, TX/Randall H.S.) hit a two-out double in the first innign for Eastern’s only extra-base hit. The Hounds also received singles from Steven Romano (Jr., 3B, Las Cruces, NM/Onate H.S.) in the fifth inning and from Mark Wallace (Fr., CF, Alamogordo, NM/Alamogordo H.S.) in the seventh ining.

Eastern’s best chance to score may have been the third inning, when Romano walked and Xarin Escobedo (Sr., SS, Mexico City, MEX/El Paso C.C.) reached base on an error. The Wildcats, however, recorded three consecutive outs to end the threat.

ACU achieved 10 hits during the game. Munoz and Brandon Stover led the way with 3 hits in 4 at bats each. Four other batters hit one single apiece for the Wildcats.

The Greyhounds will return to action on Monday, Mar. 25, when they are scheduled to host College of the Southwest in one 9-inning game at Greyhound Field in Portales, N.M. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. (MST).