FORT WORTH, TX: The 20th ranked Texas Wesleyan University Baseball team (33-14, 19-8 SAC) split a doubleheader against Mid-America Christian University (19-33, 8-19 SAC) on Saturday. The Rams took a 15-10 win in game one before MACU salvaged the series finale 3-1.
Senior Day
The Rams were celebrating Senior Day at Sycamore Park. The team's 13 seniors were honored between games of the doubleheader. Over the last four years, those players have helped Texas Wesleyan to an overall record of 137-75, a Sooner Athletic Conference Championship, and two appearances in the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
Twelve of the 13 seniors got in on the action on Saturday (
Brad Sugg pitched the Rams to a win in Friday's series opener).
Kiki Menendez (5-for-7, 3 2B's, HR),
Aidan Laurini (2-for-4, 2 2B's),
Ted Wisdom (3-for-7, 2 2B's),
Julio Ibarra (3-for-7, 2 2B's),
Chandler Schoelkopf (1-for-4, 2B),
Jacob Barfield (1-for-6, HR),
Cory Gallegos (1-for-6, HR), and
CJ Ateek (1-for-2) all had at least one hit.
Stephen Yancey picked up his eighth win of the season in game one.
Corley Huffstickler and
Alex Davis saw action on the mound in game two, and
Dusty Cloud made pitching appearances in both games.
Game One
The Rams pounded the ball early in game one. Doubles from
Aidan Laurini,
Kiki Menendez, Ted Widsom and
Julio Ibarra along with back-to-back jacks from
Cory Gallegos and
Jacob Barfield accounted for a 5-run first inning.
The hit parade continued in the second. Wisdom and Ibarra added their second doubles in as many innings, and the Rams extended the lead to 9-0.
Kiki Menendez knocked in
Michael Davila with a single in the third, but MACU made things interesting with three runs in the third and fourth innings to cut the score to 10-6.
In the fifth, the first four Evangels all reached base, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Antonio Dorado lifted a fly ball to right center and
Kiki Menendez gunned down Junior Aracena at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
After Laurini knocked in a run in the fifth with his second double of the day, Menendez touched off his NAIA-best 22nd home run of the season to give the Rams some breathing room at 13-7.
The Evangels loaded the bases again with one out in the sixth. Aracena hit an apparent sac fly to center, but the runner at third was ruled to have left early for another inning-ending double play.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth,
Logan Bistrup doubled home Ibarra and Schoelkopf. A Texas Wesleyan error allowed MACU to plate three runs in the seventh, but the Evangels fell short at 15-10.
Stephen Yancey (8-4) allowed four earned runs on six hits in four innings of work to pick up the win.
Menendez and Ibarra each had three of Texas Wesleyan's 15 hits, combining to go 6-for-9 with three doubles, a home run, seven RBI and four runs scored.
Game Two
After the fireworks in game one, Texas Wesleyan's
Parker Robinson and MACU's Reid Wall kept the offenses in check for the first three innings. The Rams turned to
Corley Huffstickler in the fourth and the senior righty matched zero's with Wall into the sixth inning.
MACU loaded the bases with three consecutive singles in the sixth. With two outs, Aracena broke the tie by drawing an RBI walk.
Alex Davis then came out of the TXWES pen and ended the threat with a soft comebacker.
Kiki Menendez doubled in the bottom of the sixth and knotted the game again when he scored on a two-out single from
Ted Wisdom.
In the eighth, Aracena and Raymond Rodriguez both singled through a drawn in infield to plate a pair of runs.
In the end, the Rams could not solve Wall who improved to 3-2 on the season after scattering six hits over eight innings. He allowed just the one run and struck out seven.
Up Next
The doubleheader marked the regular season finale for the Rams. At 19-8 in Sooner Athletic Conference play, they will be the third seed in next week's SAC Tournament. The tournament features two four-team double-elimination brackets with the winners advancing to the SAC Championship Game. The 3rd seeded Rams will take on 6th seeded Oklahoma Panhandle State at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. That game will be played on the campus of USAO in Chickasha, OK, as will the championship game which is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Monday, May 7.
Ramblings
- The Rams lead the all-time series with MACU 13-4. They are 81-39 all-time in SAC play.
- The Rams have scored at least 10 runs 17 times this season and are 16-1 in those games. In game two, they avoided being shutout for the first time since an 8-0 loss at USAO on March 9.
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Kiki Menendez is in the midst of the most prolific offensive season in Texas Wesleyan history. He leads the nation with 22 home runs, sitting just three shy of matching the school's single season record held by Randy Foyt (1984) and Dave Griffin (1982). His .471 average and .976 slugging percentage are both well ahead of the school's single season records of .444 and .856. He currently leads the country in home runs and total bases (150) while ranking second in slugging percentage and fifth in average.
