FORT WORTH, TX: A grand slam from Kiki Menedez in the bottom of the eighth helped the 12th ranked Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (30-11, 11-5 SAC) seal an 11-6 Sooner Athletic Conference win over St. Gregory's University (25-14, 9-6 SAC) at Sycamore Park on Thursday.
The Rams entered the bottom of the eighth trailing 6-5.
Alex Gudac and
Garrett Crook got the rally started with back-to-back bunt singles. With runners at the corners and no outs,
Julio Ibarra tied the game with a sac fly. Two batters later,
Aidan Laurini laid down a squeeze bunt that put the Rams on top 7-6. A walk to
Blake Seaton left nowhere to put Menendez who blasted a ball over the fence in left-center.
The game had been a back-and-forth affair to that point. The Rams got on the board in the second inning when Menendez hit a triple to center and then scored on a double from
Chandler Schoelkopf.
Casey Moses added an RBI single, but the Cavs got out of a bases-loaded jam with a timely double-play to avoid further damage.
SGU got one back in the third with an RBI single from Jordan Martin, but
Blake Seaton touched off a solo bomb in the bottom of the frame.
A Texas Wesleyan error in the fourth proved costly as St. Gregory's plated three runs on just one hit to snare a 4-3 lead.
Moses tied the game in the fourth with an RBI single, and Menendez singled and scored in the fifth to give the Rams a 5-4 advantage. However, SGU regained the lead with a two-out two-run double from Adrian Fajardo in the seventh.
Brad Sugg (5-1) earned the win with two hitless innings of relief work. Grant Schamburg (5-2) took the loss after allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits in 3.1 innings of work.
Texas Wesleyan outhit St. Gregory's 14-8 in the contest. The bottom of the order did the bulk of the damage with batters 5-9 going a combined 12-for-23 at the plate.
Menendez was a double shy of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a triple, a home run, four RBI and three runs scored.
The two teams will complete their three-game SAC series with a doubleheader on Friday. Game one is set for a 1:00 p.m. first-pitch.
Ramblings
- The Rams are now 8-2 all-time against St. Gregory's, while they improved to 57-33 all-time in SAC play.
- Following a nine-game road swing, the Rams now close the season with 10 of their final 12 games at home.
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Luis Roman had his hitting streak stopped at 13-consecutive games. During that stretch he batted .446 (25-56) with 5 home runs and 22 RBI. Five different Rams have had hitting streaks reach at least 10 games this season.
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Brad Sugg lowered his ERA to 0.79 in 13 appearances (34.1 innings) this season.
- Menendez' grand slam was the team's 39th home run of the season, marking the program's highest total since hitting 55 in 2010.
- The Rams have reached the 30-win plateau for the 12th time in Head Coach
Mike Jeffcoat's 16 seasons.
