RICHARDSON, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University Baseball team (19-7) stretched its current win streak to six games by taking a 20-16 slugfest at UT Dallas (11-11) on Tuesday.
The 20-run outburst is a season-high for Texas Wesleyan and the program's highest total since a 20-12 win at St. Gregory's University in 2015. The offensive explosion has been building in the last week. The Rams have put double-figures on the scoreboard five times during their current six-game winning streak. During the streak, the team is batting .417 with 17 home runs while they have outscored their opponents by an average of nearly seven runs per game.
The Rams pounded out 23 hits on Tuesday, scoring in seven of the nine innings and plating three or more runs in five different innings.
Kiki Menendez continued to be at the center of the offense. Last week, Menendez hit six home runs and drove in 16 in six games. On Tuesday, the senior out of Austin, TX, went 4-for-6 with a double, two home runs and eight RBI. It was his third multi-homer game in his last five contests and his second game with 8 RBI during that stretch.
There was plenty of offensive praise to go around on Tuesday. Seven different Rams had multiple hits in the game.
Jacob Barfield went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a home run.
Kaden Brown went 3-for-5 with five runs scored. Along with Menendez (2) and Barfield,
Michael Davila, and
Aidan Laurini also homered for the Rams.
Menenedez set the tone for the game with a three-run homerun in the top of the first. The Rams got a two-run bomb from Barfield and plated four more in the second, but the Comets came right back with six in their half of the second.
A pair of two-run homers from Davila and Menendez in the third and one more run in the fourth pushed the score to 12-6, but the Comets came up with two in the fourth.
The Rams plated two more in the sixth, but UTD came back with four in the sixth and one in the seventh to cut the margin to 14-13.
Texas Wesleyan continued to pound away, scoring three more runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to finally put the game away at 20-16.
Tres Underwood (1-0) was Texas Wesleyan's most effective pitcher, earning the win with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief work. The teams combined to use 11 pitchers and only Underwood and UTD's Brandon Koncaba (1.0 IP) escaped without allowing a run.
The Rams will return to Sycamore Park Friday and Saturday for a three-game series with Dallas Christian College. Friday's opener is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start with Saturday's doubleheader set for a 12:00 p.m. first-pitch.
Ramblings
- The Texas Wesleyan record for runs scored in a game is 26 against University of the Southwest in 2009. The last time the Rams scored more than 20 in a game was 2014 when they blasted SAGU 25-5 in a Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament game.
- In his last five games,
Kiki Menendez is batting .591 with 8 HR's and 24 RBI. For the season, he is batting .433 with 13 HR's and 41 RBI. He currently leads the nation with 13 home runs and ranks third nationally with a .956 slugging percentage.
- Tuesday's win avenged a 7-1 loss to the Comets earlier this season. The Rams are now 19-16 all-time against UT Dallas.
