ABILENE, Texas (March 3, 2012) — Cameron’s baseball team found its rhythm Sunday, scoring in six out of nine innings against Eastern New Mexico, on its way to a 15-9 victory in the ACU/Whitten Inn Classic.
“We came out and just swung the bats,” said Head Coach Todd Hollans. “We had 20 hits today. Jordan (Watson) did alright. He really battled tough. We’d score; they’d score. We just keep responding. We never laid down. We just kept fighting and competing.”
Andy Garcia each finished with four hits in the game, with Garcia adding a team-high four RBI. Nick Smith and Kaleb Brawner each added three RBI of their own to help lead the Aggies (12-6, 0-0).
Cameron picked up its first run in the first inning on an RBI single by A. Garcia, but that was only the beginning for CU. In the second inning, the Black and Gold jumped ahead quick with five runs on three hits, while also taking advantage of two errors by the Greyhounds (6-5, 0-0).
Brawner got the party started for the Aggies with a 2-run single to right field, scoring Benshell Garcia and Smith. Brawner would come around to score on a throwing error after a single by Blumer to make the game 4-1. Dawson would follow with an RBI ground-out, followed by A. Garcia with an RBI single of his own to make it 6-1 for CU.
Eastern New Mexico was up for the task, scoring one run in the first, one in the second and four in the third inning off Cameron starter Jordan Watson to tie the game at 6 at the end of three innings.
The team would continue to trade runs in a close game until Cameron blew it open in the 8th inning. Going into the inning CU was leading 9-8, but neither team was fold and it became apparent the Aggies needed to put away the Greyhounds.
Blumer started the inning off with a single, followed by a Dawson walk. Tyler Cox picked up an RBI single down the line, scoring Blumer. Smith completed the rally with a triple to right field, scoring Cox and Dawson. The runs gave the Aggies a 12-8 lead heading into bottom of the 8th inning.
ENMU was able to muster a run in the bottom of the inning, but failed to fight its way back into the game thanks to the pitching of James Rhodes and Will Thomas.
CU added three more runs in the top of the 9th to bring the run total to 15. Aaron Kleekamp came in to pitch in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory for the Aggies.
James Rhodes relieved Watson in the fourth inning and pitched four solid innings, allowing only two runs, to pick up his second victory of the season. Watson went three and a third, allowing seven runs, six earned, before getting pulled for Rhodes.
“Rhodes threw well today,” Holland said. “He was our guy last year. He’s coming off an injury right now, but he’s got the best stuff on our team.”
The victory improved Cameron’s record to 2-1 over the weekend, but with four errors in today’s game Holland said there is plenty of work to be done.
“2-1 on the weekend isn’t bad,” he said. “There were some good things this weekend, but have a long ways to go. I just hope our guys don’t think you can always win with four errors.”
Next up for Cameron is a four-game road series against Newman College, March 9-10, in Wichita, Kansas.
