SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Cameron University baseball team stayed alive in the Lone Star Conference Tournament by beating Texas A&M-Kingsville 9-4 in their first game of the day, but CU was eliminated in the second game by losing to Angelo State 10-3.
Cameron 9, Texas A&M-Kingsville 4
Early in the contest, TAMUK held a 2-0 lead after scoring on a RBI single in the first inning and a double in the top of the fourth. The bottom of the fourth, though, was when CU made their first mark with back-to-back doubles by
Cole Williams and
Luke Hughes to go up 3-2.
The fifth inning is where
Cody Bower put Cameron up 4-2 with a solo home run, and in the bottom of the sixth;
Leno Ramirez singled home another run for the 5-2 advantage.
The Javelinas did not score again until the top of the eighth, inching within one run of CU with a two run shot. However, in the bottom of the frame, Ramirez would return the favor, this time with a 3 RBI homer, and in same inning, Bower plated a run for a 9-4 lead.
Cameron was led at the plate by Bower and Ramirez who each had three hits and both homered in the game. Ramirez drove in a team high four runs helped in part by a three run blast in the eighth inning that stifled a late TAMUK comeback attempt.
Starter
Andrew Garza moved to 5-4 with the win as he pitched 7.2 innings, allowing four runs but only two were earned.
John Millan picked up his first save of the year keeping the Javelinas hitless with just one walk in the final 1.2 innings.
Angelo State 10, Cameron 3
The second elimination game of the day for CU did not go as well as the first. Angelo State, who beat the Aggies yesterday in the first round of the LSC Tournament, started out the game with a three run first inning and never looked back. They added four more runs in the third, one in the sixth, and two more in the eighth, putting 10 runs on the board.
Cameron made a final charge in the bottom of the eighth as Bower came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a three RBI double, but that is all they would get; the Rams retired three straight in the ninth to secure the win and move on.
Ramirez and Bower led CU at the plate for the second straight game, with Ramirez tallying three hits and Bower recording two hits and three RBI;
Jorden Fields also had two hits in three trips to the plate.
Matt Glasmann (1-1) got the loss, giving up seven runs in 2.1 innings of work.
Oswaldo Godina pitched well in relief, giving up three runs on three hits while striking out seven in 5.1 innings.
Blake Welch and
Adam Bosch pitched the final 1.1 innings, combining for no hits and three Ks.
The Aggies fall to 30-20 overall this season, while Angelo State moves to 41-12 overall and will play West Texas A&M in the LSC Tournament finals on Saturday.
Cameron entered the tournament outside of the South Central regional rankings, but they have beat the Javelinas, who are ranked fifth in the region, five straight times. CU will wait to see if the crack the list of 54 teams that will make the national tournament as the selection show airs Sunday, May 14 at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.
