FORT WORTH - No. 17 Texas Wesleyan Baseball (8-3) smashed the Bethany Swedes (5-7) 17-0 in the first game of a beautiful Saturday at Sycamore Park. Once the lineups adjusted and the pitchers changed, the Ram offense found a surprise slump in a 5-3 defeat. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak against the Swedes but all-in-all TXWES won three of the four games over the weekend.
The theme of Game 1 was Bethany's inability to get off the field after recording the second out. After the Rams went through the lineup in the first inning, Bethany's defense forced two quick out on Texas Wesleyan's first two at-bats of the second frame, but then one of the wheels on the wagon wobbled off.
Kevin Santiago Zamora reached on a fielding error that otherwise would have forced the home team three-up, three-down. Then,
Marcos Sanchez doubled, scoring Santiago. Sanchez got to third on a passed ball and
Tanner Amaral was walked. That's when
Kaden Brown stepped to the plate.
Brown had never hit a home run in his career. He felt it as so unlikely, he told his teammates if he ever hit one, he'd retire. Well, with two men on, Brown dropped a bomb over the right-field fence and the left-handed batter trotted around the bases after extending the Rams' lead to eight. He autographed the ball to his fans in the stands after the game and exclaimed he would in fact, not be retiring.
Again in the third inning, the Swedes had TXWES with nobody on and two outs and again, the frame took a lot longer to close than expected. Santiago reached on an error again as the second wheel wobbled. Sanchez singled, Amaral walked and Brown had a chance to make more magic again. He did - by letting the fourth ball go by with Santiago scoring an unearned run.
To the fifth, with two outs, the third wheel fell off the wagon.
Troy Carrigan singled to left field and
Dominick Padilla singled through the right side on one of his six at-bats.
In the sixth, the cart lost its fourth wheel and then caught on fire. The Rams scored six runs on seven hits, headlined by back-to-back doubles by Brown and
JD Valle. Brown finished with six RBI on 2-for-3 at the plate.
Marcos Sanchez went 3-of-5 with 3 RBI while
Drew Sancillo connected on both of his opportunities at the plate.
In Game 2, the offense was not as electric, bogged down by Chase Lorg's full seven innings on the mound. Lorg allowed the Rams just four hits against 27 batters faced. But even in a loss, Texas Wesleyan got to see a marvelous performance from their own roster.
Cameron Calhoun, who has closed on multiple occasions already this season for TXWES, was incredible, striking out five consecutive batters after his first pitch got Bethany to ground into a double play. Calhoun had almost as many strikeouts in 2.2 innings as Lorg had in his full day (six). Keep an eye on Calhoun's future appearances. In 3.3 innings this season, Calhoun has eight strikeouts against 11 batters faced.
Texas Wesleyan is slated to host Dallas Christian Tuesday at 2 p.m., weather permitting.
