Four fielding errors led to the demise of The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, but none bigger than an infield miscue in the bottom of the ninth which enabled Abilene Christian to take a 5-4 non conference victory.
With the game tied at four in the Wildcats' final at-bat, leadoff hitter Duncan Blades was hit by a pitch before he was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bryce Gerhardt. A walk to Will Calhoun put runners on first and second before Sky Valenzuela's ball slipped past a UTPB fielder, allowing Blades to score from second.
Despite outhitting ACU 10-8, the four Falcon errors led to two unearned runs, the first and the last for the Wildcats.
UTPB struck first, scoring lone runs in the first and the second before the Wildcats cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the second.
Jeremy Miller gave the Falcons on the board with an RBI single through the left side scoring
Chandler Goode, who led off the game with a walk. With two outs in the second,
Brantley Miller doubled and would eventually score on back-to-back errors by Gerhardt in center and Peter Goudeau at shortstop.
ACU answered in the bottom of the frame, taking advantage of a wild pitch, allowing JR Roland to score from second base. The Wildcats took a 4-3 lead in the seventh on an RBI single up the middle by Roland.
In its final at-bat, UTPB picked up two hits as well as an RBI fielder's choice by
Ryne Head to score
Brantley Miller which tied the game at four.
UTPB fell to 16-23 on the year while the Wildcats moved to 23-18. The Falcons will return home this weekend to host Newman for an important three-game Heartland Conference series. The Falcons are currently a game ahead of the Jets for the fourth and final spot of the league standings.
