STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Cameron University baseball team opened Lone Star Conference play with a 3-1 series win over Tarleton State after winning both games of their doubleheader on Saturday, 11-4 and 15-11.
The Aggies, who scored 20 runs in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday, carried that momentum into Saturday's doubleheader by scoring 11 runs in game one and 15 more in the second.
It started in the top of the second as
Izrael Trevino led off the frame with a single through the right side and then advanced to third after a sacrifice bunt and a groundout in the next two at-bats.
Myles Miller came up and reached on an error by the TSU first baseman, allowing Trevino to score.
After the Texans answered by scoring a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning, CU added their second run of the game in the third via a solo homer off the bat of
Pierce Khan, his third home run of the series and his sixth on the season.
In the top of the fourth, Cameron scored six runs to take an 8-1 lead over the Texans. Trevino singled to lead off the inning and then
Tyler Wood drove in two on a homer to right field. Later in the inning,
Briton Schiewe tripled to drive
Trey Bigford and
Hayden Jaco, and
Dillon Turney plated Khan and Schiewe on a double to add four more to the CU score.
Tarleton State got one back in the bottom of the fifth on a solo homer of their own, but the Black and Gold answered with three more in the next half inning to take an 11-2 lead. Khan continued his success against TSU pitching by singling in Bigford, and after a walk by Turney loaded the bases, Trevino brought home Khan and
Kameron Good on a single to right.
The Texans added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but it was little too late as the Aggies held on for their second straight win.
Brody Curry pitched a solid 4.1 innings to earn his second win of the season in the seven-inning contest. He gave up two runs on six hits and two walks and struck out five.
Sean Maher,
Travis Walters, and
Kareem Kobrosli combined for three more K's in the final 2.2 innings on the mound.
Trevino went 3-4 with two runs scored and two RBI in the Saturday's opener, while Khan was 2-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Additionally, Wood, Schiewe, and Turney each had two RBI as CU totaled nine hits and 10 RBI in the game.
Cameron opened up game two with their biggest inning of the series, a seven-run outburst in the top of the first.
Jaylan Prince led off the game by being hit by a pitch and then Khan and Turney walked to load the bases for Trevino. The CU first baseman cleared the base paths with a double to left center giving his team the early 3-0 lead. Trevino was picked off at third, but the Aggies were able to load the bases again for Bigford. He was the third hit batter in the inning, allowing Wood, who reached on a single, to score. Schiewe then added two more to the scoreboard on a double to left center field. The seventh run of the inning came when Bigford scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Khan.
In the second inning, the two teams matched two run frames. Cameron scored their two on a Schiewe single to right that brought home Miller and Jaco, who both singled earlier in the inning. TSU scored theirs on a two RBI single of their own, ending the second down 9-2.
Schiewe delivered his fifth RBI of the game in the top of the fourth, hitting a home run to left center field, his second of the year, giving the Aggies a 10-2 advantage.
Tarleton State did what they could not do in the previous two games, getting to within one run of CU with seven unanswered runs, scoring one in the fifth and six in the sixth.
Cameron responded in the seventh with two more runs, jumping back out to a three-run lead. Khan singled to shortstop to lead off the inning and then ended up at third after a sacrifice bunt and stolen base. Trevino walked to put runners on first and third with only one out. Trevino stole second but the throw down to second sailed into center field, allowing him to move to third and Khan to score. Trevino scored two batters later on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Texans answered with two more runs, thanks to a two-out, two RBI double from Hunter Thomas, getting his team back to within one at 12-11.
The Aggies loaded the bases thanks to walks from Trevino and Jaco and a bunt single from Miller in the top half of the ninth inning. Bigford popped up for the second out of the inning, but in the next at bat, Schiewe recorded his sixth RBI of the game by walking to bring in Trevino from third. Prince then came up to bat and delivered a double to center field that allowed both Miller and Jaco to cross the plate to give CU a 15-11 lead.
Maher came in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth for the Aggies. He got a groundout and a strikeout for the first two outs of the frame, and despite giving up a walk to the third batter in the inning, was able to get a lineout for the final out and secure the win.
Andrew Garza got the win, his second of the season, despite giving up seven runs on seven hits and two walks. The senior struck out seven during his 3.2 innings of work, which totaled half of CU's 14 total K's for the game.
Schiewe finished the game going 3-4 at the plate, scoring a run and driving in six. Miller was also 3-4, while scoring three runs, and Khan had a pair of hits, two runs scored, and a RBI. Additionally, Trevino had one hits, two runs scored, three RBI, and three walks. Cameron totaled 12 hits, walked 10 times, and left 14 runners on base.
The Aggies are now 12-17 on the season and 3-1 in LSC play, while TSU falls to 11-19 overall and 1-3 in conference games.
Cameron will be back at home next weekend, March 29-31, when they host Texas A&M-Kingsville for four games. Game one is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on Friday, but all times and dates are subject to change.
