Texas Wesleyan baseball sweeps doubleheader from East Texas Baptist

by PegNews wire

The 11th ranked Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (35-8) responded to losing consecutive games for the first time all season by sweeping a doubleheader from East Texas Baptist (11-28) on Monday. The Rams took game one 11-10 and game two 4-1.

Game was sloppy but thrilling. In the first inning Josh Vander Hey drilled a two-run double and scored on a groundball from Billie Hicks to give Texas Wesleyan a 3-0 lead. After a pair of one out walks in the third, the Tigers plated runs with RBI from Trevor Burton and Brandon Miller to bring the score to 3-2.

In the bottom of the third, Texas Wesleyan tacked on a run when Billie Hicks and Brandon Frazier executed a double-steal of second and home respectively.

Ryan Moreau made it 4-3 with an RBI single in the fifth for East Texas Baptist; however, the Rams took advantage of an ETBU error to plate a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.

The Tigers plated a run on an RBI single from Johnothon Jolly and used two Texas Wesleyan errors to plate four more unearned runs to take an 8-6 lead in the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, Jason Diaz pinch-hit, drew a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and brought the Rams within a run when he scored on a sac fly from Frazier.

Another Texas Wesleyan error led to two more ETBU runs in the seventh and put the Rams in a 10-7 hole. In the bottom of the seventh an ETBU error kept the Rams’ hopes alive. With two outs, ETBU’s pitcher, Lane Elzey, covered first on a grounder but bobbled the ball allowing Taylor Miller to reach safely. Victor Burgos followed with a single to right. Chris Palmer then pinch-hit and blasted his fifth homerun of the season, a game-tying shot to left field.

In the bottom of the eight Diaz drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on a bunt from Frazier. That set up a dramatic finish for Vander Hey who ripped a game-winning single into the leftcenter gap.

Lackey (3-1) earned the win after allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits in three innings of work. Vander Hey went 2-for-3 with three RBI on the day.

Singles from Diaz, Frazier, and Ryan Ragsdale led to a 2-0 lead for the Rams in the first inning of game two. In the third inning, Brandon Frazier was hit by a pitch for the third time on the day. That gave him a dubious school record of being hit 15 times in one season. Frazier also holds the career mark at 30. Frazier later scored on an ETBU error to give the Rams a three-run cushion.

The Tigers got on the board with an RBI single from Michael Ross in the fourth, but Vander Hey delivered an RBI in the fifth to stretch the lead back to three.

Jesse Wright (2-0) got the win after working 1.1 scoreless innings. Lackey tossed the final 1.2 innings to lock down his 12th save of the season.

The Rams return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Shawnee, OK, to take on Oklahoma Baptist University. Game one is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start.

Source: Texas Wesleyan