FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas Wesleyan University Baseball team (3-1) double-dipped Texas College (2-2) in walk-off fashion with 6-5 and 3-2 wins at Sycamore Park on Sunday.
It was
Joaquin Ballesteros again, who delivered his second walk-off hit of the young season in game one, before
Tanner Amaral went to the opposite field – a single through the right side – to give the Rams a game two walk-off win.
"This team continues to grind out each inning," said head coach
Bobby Garza. "This team has some fight in them. Our pitchers continue to keep us in games. They deserve all the credit for the wins."
In game one, Texas College took an early 4-1 lead through the opening two frames, before the Rams stuck back in the third.
Tanner Amaral launched a ball over the left-center fence, and then
Trey Smith added the exclamation with a towering bomb for a homer down the left-field line. That cut the lead to just one, before
Brooks Wallace got a 2-out single to extend the inning. Wallace stole second to put himself in scoring position, and
Mark Schreiner plated the tying run with a shot in to shallow right to knot game one at four apiece.
The Rams took the lead in the fourth after scoring a run using well executed small ball. Kevin Santiago led off the inning by drawing a walk, then promptly stole second with no outs.
Marcos Sanchez did a job, laying down a ground out to the right side, moving Santiago to third. Amaral added another RBI on a sacrifice fly down the left field line, just deep enough to score the run to make a 5-4 Ram lead.
On the defensive side, the Rams turned a 6-4-3 double play in the fifth capped by a fantastic dig by first baseman
Trey Smith, keeping the Steers in check.
Texas College put the pressure on in the seventh, tying the game on two doubles in the right-center gap. The Steers threatened to take the lead, getting a runner 90 feet away, but TXWES got out of the jam.
For the second time in the weekend, the Rams got a walk-off win off the bat of
Joaquin Ballesteros.
JD Valle was hit by pitch, before Wallace slapped a single through the left side to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Schreiner moved the runner to third on a fly out to right, and Ballesteros ended things with a RBI drive to left center.
Wallace went 3 for 4 with a run scored. Amaral went 1 for 1 with 2 RBI and a home run. Smith went 2 for 3 with a solo shot. Ballesteros and Schreiner each went 2 for 5 with one RBI.
Jesse Ramirez (1-0) got the win in one inning of work. He allowed a run on two hits and struck out one.
Steven Frederick had a great outing, pacing the team with 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits to go along with four strikeouts.
In game two, defense abounded through four innings, despite Texas College receiving a cheapened run in the top of the fourth on a wild pitch to take a slight edge at 1-0.
The Rams returned the favor in the bottom half of the fourth, after Amaral took a pitch off the helmet to reach base. He stole second and was moved to third on a ground out before scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game.
TC broke the tie in the fifth due to an error and a wild pitch, but again the Rams answered in the bottom of the inning. Valle reached on an error to lead off the inning, and Ballesteros was able to bring the run in on a single to left-center, his sixth RBI of the weekend to make a 2-2 ball game.
With the game knotted up in the bottom of the seventh, Amaral smacked a single through the right side to plate the go-ahead run for the win.
Josh Brown (1-0) picked up the win. The senior from Layton, Utah pitched a scoreless, hitless seventh, walked one and struck out one.
Garrett Moltzan was very effective as well, tossing four innings, allowing one run on four hits, while striking out six for the Rams.
The team will travel to LSU-Alexandria for a three game series with the Generals starting with a double header on Friday, January 31. First pitch set for 2:00 p.m.
