McPHERSON, KS: The 18th ranked Texas Wesleyan University Baseball team (24-7, 12-2 SAC) extended their winning streak to 11 games by sweeping a Sooner Athletic Conference doubleheader at Central Christian College (5-34, 3-17 SAC) on Friday. The Rams survived a late rally to take game one 13-11 and then rode the right arm of
Brad Sugg to a 5-3 win in game two.
The Texas Wesleyan offense stayed red-hot in game one, pounding out 13 hits and touching off four home runs. During their 11-game streak, the Rams are batting .412 as a team with 26 home runs.
The Rams put four runs on the board in a first inning that included a two-run homer from
Jacob Barfield. The Tigers responded by putting five on the board in the bottom of the first, but the Rams sent ten men to the plate in the second, scored seven runs and tallied a three-run homer from
Donnie Lopez, a two run shot from
Cory Gallegos and a solo shot from
Julio Ibarra.
An RBI double from
Ryan Breaud and a sac fly from
Kaden Brown in the fifth pushed the margin to 13-7.
CCC made things interesting with a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth. The Tigers had the tying run on base in the sixth when
Alex Davis came out of the pen and induced a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.
Dusty Cloud (1-0) worked 3.2 innings allowing one run on two hits to pick up the win. Davis nailed down his sixth save of the season by recording the final five outs of the game.
Kaden Brown,
Kiki Menendez,
Ted Wisdom, and
Julio Ibarra all went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Rams.
In game two,
Brad Sugg was perfect through 4.1 before allowing Troy Carrigan to single through the left side of the infield with one out in the fifth.
The Rams got a solo home run from Gallegos (his second of the day) in the third inning and then put four on the board when they batted around in the seventh.
Sugg allowed just the one hit through six innings. The Tigers put three on the board in the seventh behind back-to-back doubles from Shomari Cann and JD Noey. However, Sugg was up to the task, finishing off the complete game effort.
Sugg remained undefeated on the season at 7-0 while allowing just one earned run on three hits in seven innings. He struck out six Tigers and did not allow a free pass.
Gallegos went 2-for-4 in game two, making him 3-for-7 with two home runs and three RBI on the day.
The Rams and Tigers will complete their three-game series on Saturday. Game time is set for 12:00 p.m.
Ramblings
- The Rams are 4-0 all-time against Central Christian. They improved to 77-33 all-time in SAC play.
- Kiki Mendendez extended his current-hitting streak to 10 games. He is batting .538 (21-39) with 7 doubles, 8 home runs and 27 RBI in that stretch. This season, Menendez has hit safely in 28 of 31 games played.
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Brad Sugg is 7-0 with a 1.63 ERA in nine appearances. He has struck out 47 batters and walked only 8 in 49.2 innings pitched while surrendering an opposing batting average of .188.
