FORT WORTH, TX: The 23rd ranked Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (11-2, 6-0 SAC) completed a sweep of a Sooner Athletic Conference series by taking both ends of a doubleheader with Southwestern Christian University (9-5, 3-3 SAC) at Sycamore Park on Monday. The Rams took game one 7-4 and then rallied for a 5-4 win in game two.
Game One
In game one, Victor Del Carmen staked the Eagles to a quick 2-0 lead with a two-run homer from Diogen Ceballos in the first inning, but
Jacob Barfield answered the bell with a three-run bomb in the bottom of the first.
Texas Wesleyan broke the game open with a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by a two-out two-run double from Barfield.
SCU got a run back in the sixth and then made things interesting in the seventh by loading the bases with no outs.
Alex Davis came on in relief, and after hitting his first batter, retired the next three to pick up his fifth save of the season.
Brad Sugg (3-0) earned the win after striking out six in six innings. He scattered eight hits and walked none, while allowing three runs.
Barfield was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, home run and five RBI.
Ted Wisdom and Corey Gallegos both went 2-for-3 at the plate as well.
Game Two
In game two, the two teams exchanged runs in the first inning.
Jacob Barfield knocked in a run for the Rams in the first, but the Eagles plated an unearned run in the third to go up 2-1.
SCU tacked on runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Meanwhile Juan Carlos Gonzalez retired 14 consecutive Rams to hold the score at 3-1 into the bottom of the sixth.
The Rams loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth.
Logan Bistrup scored on a double play ball. Then, with two outs,
Michael Davila scored on a wild pitch and Corey Gallegos delivered a game-tying single.
Julio Ibarra led off the seventh with a double into the left-center gap.
Ryan Breaud moved Ibarra over with a ground ball, and Ibarra ended the game when he scampered home on a wild pitch.
Parker Robinson (1-0) picked up the win with a perfect inning of relief.
Corley Huffstickler started for the Rams and went six innings allowing four runs, three earned and striking out eight.
Gonzalez (2-1) scattered six hits and allowed five runs in 6.1 innings.
Up Next
The Rams were scheduled to take on LSU-Shreveport on Tuesday, but that game has been postponed by impending weather. The game will be made up but has not yet been rescheduled.
The Rams are back in action March 9-10 when they travel to Chickasha, OK, for a Sooner Athletic Conference series with the University of Science & Arts (OK). The Drovers are currently ranked 11th in the NAIA and are off to a 10-1 start to their season.
Ramblings
- The Rams are now 12-4 all-time against Southwestern Christian while they improved to 71-33 all-time in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
- Texas Wesleyan leads the all-time series with their next opponent, USAO, by a narrow 10-9 margin.
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Alex Davis has saved nearly half of Texas Wesleyan's wins this season. He is currently 2-0 with five saves, a 1.32 ERA and an opponent's batting average of .128 in 13.2 innings of work.
