FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas Wesleyan baseball team (12-7) dropped the series finale with Blue Mountain College (Miss.) (7-9) by a score of 7-4 at Sycamore Park on Saturday.
On a brisk afternoon with a healthy Southerly wind blowing around 12 mph, the Rams struggled to find gaps in the defense. The Toppers outfielders were good at tracking the ball down today, and a lot of hard hit line drives found gloves instead of grass.
"Credit goes to Blue Mountain College," commented head coach
Bobby Garza. "they took advantage of us in certain innings. They were able to get the leadoff on and around the bases. We have to do a better job of making sure the leadoff hitter doesn't score. We struggled at the plate and weren't able to score with runners in scoring position. We just have to get more consistent at the plate."
In the first inning, the Rams earned a well-executed "strike 'em out, throw 'em out" play to keep the threatening Toppers from scoring early.
Gabriel Sequeira got a swinging strikeout as a BMC runner tried to swipe third, but
Tanner Amaral threw a strike to
Kaden Brown covering for the unconventional double-play.
The Rams got into a bit of trouble in the fourth and surrendered three runs to fall behind 3-1. An error that led off the inning snowballed into two hit batters and a walk. Add in a pair of hits, and that sent a charge through the visiting bench.
TXWES squashed the momentum in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game, albeit due to some technical mistakes on the part of Blue Mountain College. Then, Texas Wesleyan broke the tie in the fifth on a
Caleb Harmond RBI double down the left field line, making it a 4-3 game.
BMC capitalized in the sixth. The Toppers were fundamental, getting runners at second and third with one out on a text book sacrifice bunt play. The leadoff in the lineup was intentionally walked to load the bases, the Rams playing for a ground ball to turn a double play. The Toppers were able to find open field to tie on the next play to tie. The Rams got what they wanted in the next at bat, a ground ball primed for a double play, but an error stalled the buildup. The Toppers strung four runs together to make it a 7-4 game. The score would hold and BMC grabbed the series, 2-1.
Harmond was a bright spot today, going 3 for 4 with one RBI. Sequeira was solid enough as the starter, going five innings in the no-decision. He allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits, while striking out 11.
Texas Wesleyan will host one more tuner before we get into conference play, taking on Arlington Baptist on Monday, Feb. 24rd. First-pitch is set for a 2 p.m. start.
