After the storms cleared and play was able to resume at the 2012 Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship, the University of the Incarnate Word arrived at the field for a game that was delayed while the ground crew at Foster Field worked to get water out of the outfield and the Cardinals' dugout.
Both teams dealt with the soggy conditions as best they could, but after a five-run outburst by Abilene Christian in the top of the 6th inning, UIW could do little more than score an extra run in the 8th inning, and the Wildcats ended UIW's season with a 14-3 decision.
“Our season was tougher than last year, for sure,” coach Danny Heep said after the game. “We didn't hit like we thought we were going to and some of our pitchers didn't have as good of a year as we'd been counting on. But, we got here and from there it is always a crapshoot.”
ACU managed to generate a run in both the 3rd and 4th inning for a 2-0 lead, but Incarnate Word (23-21 overall) put together three hits to score two runs and knot things up at 2-2 in the bottom of the 4th.
Jorge Guarneros pitched 5 1/3 innings and for five of them he kept Incarnate Word in the game while the offense tried to find its rhythm. It was only after the game was tied up and he'd stuck out four batters that the Wildcats were able to truly get anything going and the game was put out of reach.
Ethan Lutz, Justin Kanas, and Kirk Jewasko finished up the rest of the game for Incarnate Word.
ACU added five runs in the top of the 8th against Kanas and then Jewasko gave up two runs in the top of the 9th on a two-run homer, but all those runs came in well after the game had already been decided.
The Cardinals went into Tuesday's game knowing that they had to win three consecutive games, at minimum, to have a chance to take the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship – all on Tuesday because two of the three games scheduled for play on Monday were pushed back to Tuesday for the thunderstorms over San Angelo.
Jordan Littlefield was 2-for-2 in the DH spot for Incarnate Word, also scoring a run. Slade Brown was 2-for-4 with an RBI. John Zule and Jason Stone also had RBIs.
Abilene Christian – in the same situation as UIW with one loss in the double elimination tournament – moved on to face Tarleton State to battle for a chance to take on No. 1 seeded Angelo State University in the final game of the day (and try to force an additional game on Wednesday by giving ASU its first loss of the tournament).
Graduating from Incarnate Word are infielder Hector Flores, pitcher Jorge Guarneros, outfielder Ryan Flowers, catcher Greg Barbaro, outfielder Wilson Reuter, pitcher Ethan Lutz, pitcher Michael Farrenkopf, and pitcher Kirk Jewasko.
“Well, we basically have to rebuild our whole pitching staff,” Heep said. “So, now it's all about recruiting and finding guys you like and hoping they work out. That's the cycle that every school faces – rebuilding after a large class moves on.”
Lone Star Conference Championship
Abilene Christian 14, Incarnate Word 3
(May 08, 2012 at San Angelo, TX)
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Abilene Christian... 001 105 052 - 14 16 1 (26-27)
Incarnate Word...... 000 200 010 - 3 7 1 (23-21)
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Pitchers: Abilene Christian - Aaron Lambrix and Rodge Macy. Incarnate Word - Jorge Guarneros; Ethan Lutz(6); Justin Kanas(8); Kirk Jewasko(9) and Zac Russell; Greg Barbaro.
Win-Aaron Lambrix(4-5) Loss-Jorge Guarneros(5-5) T-2:24 A-215
HR ACU - Travis Schuetz.
Weather: 60 and raining
