LAWTON – In their 2022 season finale, the Aggie baseball team exploded for 14 hits and 12 runs to beat Texas A&M International and close out the year with a win.
Cameron bounced back after falling in the first three games of the final weekend series of the spring and played spoiler on the Dustdevils' postseason hopes by getting the win on Sunday, 12-5.
Clayton McClenan started on the mound for CU and, after giving up a single run in the first, was solid until the fifth. That is when the Dustdevils struck for four runs on six hits against the sophomore hurler.
The Aggies had the lead prior to that thanks to a
Beau Williams solo home run in the bottom of the first and then RBI's from
Jayce Clem and
Jordan Harrison-Dudley in the third, making it 3-1.
Now down 5-3 after the top of the fifth, CU answered with a run on another Clem RBI single to get his team to within one run, 5-4.
That was when
Kyle Williams allowed senior
Abraham Renteria to make an appearance in his final collegiate game. Renteria had battled injuries throughout his career at CU, and this was his first appearance on the mound since February 2, 2020. The El Paso, Texas native worked a 1-2 count against TAMIU's Daniel Quiroz and then got the slugger to groundout to first for the first out in the sixth before coming out for the next batter to a big applause from the CU faithful.
Marcos Feria followed and was spectacular for Cameron, striking out eight batters while allowing just one hit and three base runners in 3.2 innings of work.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Aggies took back the lead as
Tyler Coleman tied the game with a solo home run to left and then
Erik Ohman gave them the lead with a sacrifice fly that brought home Harrison-Dudley.
Cameron then exploded for six runs in the bottom of the eighth to give them their 12-5 advantage. Williams singled in a pair of runs to start the rally and then Clem delivered his fourth hit of the game, scoring two more runs. Harrison-Dudley then came in to score on a passed ball thanks to some fancy footwork to get in ahead of the tag on his part and then Clem scored on a balk for the final run of the frame.
Clem was 4-5 with four RBI and a run scored in the season finale while Williams was 3-4 with three runs scored and three RBI. Coleman also scored three times and Harrison-Dudley scored twice and reached base four times, three via walks.
Nik Sanchez had a 2-4 day in his final game for CU.
Cameron, who was already eliminated from the postseason, and St. Mary's both getting wins on Sunday eliminated the team from Laredo, Texas from the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament as they fell out of the top-8 in the standings.
The Aggies finish the year with a 14-34 overall record and a 14-32 conference mark, but most importantly on a one-game winning streak heading into next year.
