HUNTSVILLE – Abilene Christian led wire-to-wire in in a 13-6 win over Sam Houston in the opener of a 3-game series on Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium. 

ACU (13-5) hit a trio of 2-run homers in the first two innings to stake itself to a 6-0 lead and the Kats (3-14) were never able to get closer than a 3-run margin midway through.  

Ryan Peterson set a career high with nine strikeouts in 6.0 innings, but was the victim of the early Wildcat longballs and ultimately took the tough-luck loss to fall to 0-5 on the season. ACU starter Dominick Reid moved to 4-0 on the year after he lasted 5.0 innings with seven punchouts of his own. 

The Kats chipped away at the ACU lead with single runs in the second, third and fifth innings as Peterson held the visitors in check with zeros in his final four frames; however, the Kats turned to the pen to open the seventh and ACU immediately pounced, delivering a 6-run knockout punch in the top of the seventh which was capped by a 3-run blast from Nick Arias.  

Blake Brown and Addison Smith picked up two hits apiece for Sam Houston, while Jace Martinez and Ryan Franden each had a double and an RBI.   
  
UP NEXT  
The Kats will try to even the series with ACU on Saturday afternoon in the second game of the series. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. from Don Sanders Stadium. The game can be heard on the Bearkat Sports Network or locally over the airwaves on KSHU 90.5 FM.