FORT WORTH - Texas Wesleyan Baseball (19-3, 3-0 SAC) put together an all-around strong performance to cement its sweep over Central Christian (1-12, 0-3 SAC) Saturday at Sycamore Park, a 6-2 triumph. The win improved the Rams' home record to 16-0 in 2019, climbing into the program's record books once again in the process.
Four different Rams pitchers struck out a total of 19 batters, tying the Ram's best outing against an opponent - 19 strikeouts against Bishop on May 15, 1972. The 19 strikeouts in Sooner Athletic Conference play was the most in a SAC game since Oklahoma Baptist threw 19 against Mid-America Christian on March 1, 2012.
Jesse Ramirez continued his stellar season on the mound. He saw six innings of work, giving up three hits while dismissing 13 Tigers. His 13 Ks were most by a Ram pitcher since Zach Aitken's 14 against Dallas Christian on April 1, 2016. Six strikeouts came against the first nine Central Christian challenged him with.
Tanner Amaral joined the home run club, becoming the seventh Ram to hit a homer this season. Amaral's HR flew over the left field fence in the fifth (2 RBI) when the Rams were in desperate need of a shot in the arm offensively, up just 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth with some big bats disconnected. The home run scored
Brooks Wallace, who had just blooped a single up the middle on the at-bat before.
That shot to left pushed momentum for the Rams into the sixth, where the team has scored 37 runs this season, the most in any inning by 11.
Houston Glad - who got a win on Friday on the mound - tripled to left center and had a glimmer of opportunity for an inside the park home run but was held up, with the defense playing so well - a calculated conservative move that quickly paid off.
Craig Mattes singled on the Rams next at-bat to bring in Glad and up TXWES' lead to 4-2.
With two outs, Mattes scored on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch and a passed ball scored two more unearned runs to bring the advantage to the eventual final score. The Rams left the bases loaded, but it didn't much matter on this day - the defense and pitching was just too good.
The Tigers went hitless in the seventh, eighth and ninth with
Parker Robinson,
Max Martinez and
Ian Nash all getting one inning apiece, all striking out two of the batters they faced (none faced more than four). Ramirez improves his record on the mound to 5-0, despite this being his first start. He's now one of four pitchers in the country with five wins to his resume in 2019.
STRIKEOUTS CROSS 200
The Rams have hit the double century mark in strikeouts, now with 207 led by Ramirez' 45,
Cameron Vige's 40,
Houston Glad's 31 and Robinson's 27 (an average of 9.41 strikeouts per game). The team's strikeouts record of 421 in 2013, is now on pace to be eclipsed by 87 Ks - not even including SAC Tournament play.
RECORD-SETTING START
Texas Wesleyan is off to it's best start through 22 games as far back as game-by-game records can take us, especially impressive in the first-year with Head Coach
Bobby Garza at the helm.
2006: 13-9
2007: 18-4
2008: 14-8
2009: 16-6
2010: 13-9
2011: 13-9
2012: 16-6
2013: 15-7
2014: 13-9
2015: 12-10
2016: 10-12
2017: 15-7
2018: 15-7
2019: 19-3
