OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Cameron University baseball team split a pair of 17-7 contests on Monday, beating William Jewell in the first game and falling to Oklahoma Christian in the second.
Against William Jewell, the Aggies got off to a strong start as
Dillon Turney led off the game with a single and then came around to score on a RBI base hit off the bat of
Hayden Jaco two batters later. Jaco then came around to score on a two-out, RBI double from
Pierce Khan to give CU a 2-0 lead.
Despite holding a 2-0 lead, the Aggies got into trouble in the bottom of the inning, as freshman
Cole Pretorius gave up three runs, two earned, on four walks and two hit batsman while only recording two outs.
Gaige Vines came in from the bullpen for CU to get the final out in the inning.
The Aggies tied the game at three in the top of the third as
Jaylan Prince singled in Jaco on a two out single to right. Cameron then exploded for 11 runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 14-3 lead. Khan and
Kameron Good both had two RBI singles in the fourth, and in the fifth,
Tyler Wood drove in two on a double and Khan brought in two more to give him his fourth and fifth RBI of the game.
William Jewell tried to chip away at the lead with singles runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and then two more in the seven to get to within seven at 14-7. However, a three spot in the top of the eighth to get ahead by 10.
Abel Rosario, who came in to pitch in the seventh, recorded a scoreless bottom of the frame to secure the 17-7 run-rule win for the Aggies.
Vines threw six solid innings to earn his first win of the season. The junior from Trophy Club, Texas gave up four earned runs on five hits, and had five strikeouts in the game. Rosario gave up just two hits and struck out three in his 1.1 innings of work.
In game two of the day, Cameron was on the wrong end of the 17-7 loss. The Eagles got going early, scoring five runs on three hits and an error in the bottom of the first. Four of the runs came on a two run triple and a two-run homer back-to-back. The added one more in the bottom of the third on a solo shot from Errett Edwards.
Cameron scored their first runs in the top of the fourth as
Izrael Trevino scored as Jaco reached on a scoring error and three more came across the plate on a Khan three-run bomb to get CU to within two. OC doubled that advantage with two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, giving them an 8-4 lead.
The two teams then traded three run innings with Oklahoma Christian scoring three in the fifth and CU responding with a trio in the sixth. Khan's big day continued as he drove in Wood for the Aggies' first run of the inning, and then in the next at bat,
Colton Adams homered to add two more. Cameron loaded the bases later in the inning, but could not cut further in to the 11-7 score.
In the sixth, OC added five more runs on five hits and an error and then in the seventh, Alex Garcia hit his second homer of the game to secure the run-rule win.
Brody Curry gave up eight runs on eight hits in his four innings of work, while striking out six opposing batters.
Chris Hansen and
Sean Maher finished off the final 2.1 innings on the mound.
Khan finished the day with six hits, four runs scored, and nine RBI, while Prince and Wood each added four hits and Jaco scored a team-high five runs.
Cameron is now 6-8 on the season after going 1-3 against the Cardinals and Eagles the past two days. Their next test will be a four game, non-conference series at Eastern New Mexico this weekend, March 1-3.
