FORT WORTH, TX: The 23rd ranked Texas Wesleyan University Baseball team (34-14) celebrated May Day with a cool 16-5 victory over Arlington Baptist University (26-18) in their regular season finale at Sycamore Park.
Just prior to game time the NAIA released the final regular season edition of its Coaches' Poll. The Rams fell three spots to No. 23 after going 3-5 since the last edition of the bi-weekly poll. That stretch includes a pair of very tight losses against No. 5 Oklahoma City.
The Rams trailed 5-1 in this game before batting around in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
After Arlington Baptist put four runs on the board in the top of the first,
Kiki Menendez extended his lead in the NAIA home run race with his 23rd long-ball of the season, a solo shot to right-center.
With two outs in the fifth, Menendez drove a ball into the wind and off the top of the wall in left-center for a two-run double. The two-out rally continued with a two-run single from
Brooks Wallace and an RBI knock from
Logan Bistrup that gave the Rams a 6-5 lead.
Donnie Lopez and Menendez extended the advantage with back-to-back RBI doubles in the sixth. Consecutive RBI singles from
Jacob Barfield and
Brooks Wallace later in the inning pushed the score to 11-5.
In the seventh,
Jacob Barfield touched off a grand slam to make it 15-5, and
Kaden Brown capped the scoring when he drew a bases loaded walk.
Donnie Lopez made his first career pitching appearance, starting the game but working only the first inning. The Barfield brothers, Jacob and Joseph, worked the next five innings on the hill allowing a run on five hits between them.
Joseph Barfield (1-1) notched his first collegiate victory with three scoreless innings in which he allowed three hits and struck out two.
In the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, the Rams sent 31 men to the plate and scored 15 runs on 10 hits and nine walks.
Kiki Menendez paced the offensive effort by going 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run, four RBI and four runs scored.
Jacob Barfield was 2-for-3 with a home run, five RBI and three runs scored.
The Rams are now set to make their fifth consecutive appearance in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. The third seeded Rams will take on sixth seeded Oklahoma Panhandle State University at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. That game will be played in Chickahsa, OK, on the campus of USAO.
Ramblings
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Kiki Menendez is having the single most prolific offensive season in school history. He leads the nation with 23 home runs, just two shy of matching the school record held by Randy Foyt (1984) and Dave Griffin (1982). His .480 batting average and 1.006 slugging percentage are well ahead of the school records of .444 and .856. He currently leads the country in home runs, slugging percentage, and total bases (174) while ranking second with 75 RBI, fourth in batting average, fourth in hits (83), and sixth in doubles (22).
- The Rams have scored at least 10 runs 18 times this season and are 17-1 in those games.
- Texas Wesleyan leads the all-time series with Arlington Baptist 6-1.
- The Rams are 7-8 all-time in SAC Tournament play.
