FORT WORTH - No. 14 Texas Wesleyan Baseball (37-10, 16-5 SAC) has seen some of the best baseball the NAIA has to offer roll through Sycamore Park in the last month, playing three of the top 15 teams in the nation. Unfortunately these teams are dragging down the impressive 28-4 home record as the Rams lost to No. 8 University of Science and Arts (35-10, 19-3 SAC) 6-2 in an an all-around well-played game full of talent and stellar pitching on yet another blustery and sunny afternoon.

The top-of-the-line play on the mound held longer for the Drovers than the Rams after USAO pitcher Jean Muntaner went the full nine innings to improve to 10-1 on the season. Striking out 11 while giving up six hits - only one greater than a single - Muntaner made Texas Wesleyan batters work for everything. There's no doubt the powerful Rams bats belonged on center stage with him.

With the Drovers up 3-0 after scoring two runs in the top of the fifth, Brayden Bahnsen responded with a triple to left center, a one-hopper to the wall. Alan Campero followed Banhsen up with a RBI single into left to put TXWES on the board. Caden Williams kept the offensive explosion going with a single to right center - a well-hit ball in the outfield gap. Campero was at the ready in third but a couple of outfield flies ended the inning without further damage.

Williams finished 2-for-3 while Campero and Michael Davila had the Rams' RBI in the game.

Before the teams combined to score four runs in the fifth frame, pitching ruled the first of a three-game series. Cameron Vige (7-3) got the start and struck out six, three of which ended the second, third and fourth inning threats of USAO, stranding three runners. The Drovers ever-so-slightly pulled away after the team's traded blows in the fifth, scoring on a wild pitch, a double play and one very long hit. But first, the Drovers' Cristian Laboy got greedy.

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That string of numbers is the official way to score the pick-off that occurred at third base in the second, a head's up play by Campero as the Rams expertly earned an out. Following Laboy's dropped single over the head of Campero just pass second base, Campero momentarily lost the handle after recovering the ball in the grass. It ended up working in Texas Wesleyan's favor after Williams and Sheadion Jamanika got involved in a cruel game of monkey-in-the-middle trying to tag out Laboy who got greedy and left first base after the bobble. After Campero got back in the mix, he fired the ball back to Jeddediah Fagg at third base as USAO's Daniel Lafarga was hoping to steal home during the fracas.

Laboy had the last laugh six innings later, homering over the centerfield fence in the only deep shot of the day. Laboy became the second-straight nine-hole hitter to hit a home run on the Rams - an unusual event for any team, but not unusual for Laboy. It was his seventh home run of the season, his fourth in the last six games.

STRIKEOUT RECORD IMMINENT
The Rams pitchers struck out 10 more batters Friday (414 this season), leaving them just eight short of the program's record for strikeouts in a season.

WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan will face the Drovers in two seven-inning games Saturday, a doubleheader that starts at noon. If TXWES wins both, they will have won the series against the other ranked teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference - No. 8 USAO and No. 9 Oklahoma City - during its postseason quest.