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Box Score 3 San Antonio, Texas—"From the first pitch of the series, these kids battled their hearts out," said OPSU Head Baseball Coach Steve Appel after the Aggies pulled an impressive win Saturday over the #6-ranked St. Mary's Rattlers to go 1-2 in the Heartland series match-up.
Appel continued, "They knew they would have to play well in order to compete with one of the nation's top teams, and if not, one of the classiest and best-ran programs in the country. In the first couple games they played well but made a couple key mistakes that you simply cannot make against a team like that."
The Aggies hung tough in game one Friday afternoon, with
Sam Beattie pitching a full six innings and giving up only five hits and two runs, and throwing four strikeouts against the Rattlers. Beattie left the mound with a 2-1 loss for the game.
St. Mary's scored their runs early and held a 2-0 lead after two innings; Beattie held them scoreless through the final four innings.
Chris McClendon was the only Aggie to cross home plate in game one after reaching first on a throwing error by the Rattlers' catcher;
Robert Montoya drove a double advancing McClendon to third and he then scored off another Rattler error.
Walker Rainwater led off on the mound for the Aggies in game two and went 5.1 innings with two hits, four runs, and two strikeouts.
Adam Burke and
Tom Parker were also called upon; each allowed only one hit and one run and Burke dished one strikeout.
The Aggies made St. Mary's work in game two, taking them ten innings and holding them to just four hits the entire game while the OPSU batters notched 14 hits.
Evan Offutt hit a double up right center to start the fourth and was followed by
Lucas Ogaz who reached on a fielding error by first base. Montoya came up with a single up the middle bringing Offutt home for the Aggies' first run of game two; the score was tied 1-1 after four innings of play.
The Rattlers would score three runs in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh while the Aggies still sat with only one run on the board. That would change, however, in the ninth inning when Peyton Osbon got things going with his first run of the day.
Dylan Dudley,
Robert Montoya,
Evan Offutt, and Sam Moreno would also come across in the fourth inning tying the score at 5-5;
Tom Parker and the Aggie defense kept St. Mary's from scoring in the bottom of the ninth which brought on a tenth inning.
After a quick double-play followed by a strikeout for the Aggies, St. Mary's was able to bring in one run in the tenth off a double and two sacs for the 6-5 win.
"On day two it was different," said Appel. "We learned from our mistakes and took advantage of mistakes they made. This is the first time these kids played to the potential of what I have been envisioning for this program and I believe it is going to continue."
Day two was indeed different as the Aggies struck first with four runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead over the Heartland's second-ranked team. St. Mary's didn't hold back and brought in five runs of their own to close out the fourth inning with a one-run lead over the Aggies.
The Rattlers kept the hits coming and brought in two more runs in innings five and six to pull ahead 7-4, but the Aggies came back for more in the seventh scoring three runs and tying the game at 7-7.
The eighth inning was a quick up/down for each team with zero runs coming in.
B.J. Henry was called from the bullpen with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
The Aggies came back ready to rally in the ninth starting off with a single by Dudley and another Rattler fielding error which left two on base with zero outs.
As Appel said, the Aggies took advantage of St. Marys' mistakes, grabbing bases off of a throwing error, two walked batters, and a wild pitch, all in the ninth inning. In all, the Aggies came through with five runs, taking a 12-7 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
Henry threw the three strikeouts needed to put the game away and earn his first win as an Aggie pitcher.
Spencer Long was the starting OPSU pitcher in game three, and really kept the game in control forcing ground balls the entire day. Long went 7.2 innings and gave up only five earned runs; he allowed one base on balls and threw three strikeouts.
Coach Appel had this to say about the Aggie pitching crew, "Overall, the pitching and defense was pretty good. The pitching has given us a chance all year to win and they did just that in all three games. They just continue to learn every day that this conference is a grind."
Appel also commented on the team's hitting, "Our smaller guys played the small ball really well, and we had a couple of big guys come to the plate and drive them in with big hits."
Leading the Aggie bats in game three was Chris McClendon who came away hitting 3-5 for two RBI; McClendon also scored two runs. Montoya and Offutt each hit doubles in game three good for one and two RBI respectively.
For the series,
Evan Offutt and
Robert Montoya led the Aggies with three RBI apiece. Offutt went 3-5 with one BB and Montoya went 4-9 with two BB.
Nick Crosswhite topped the team in fielding totaling 20 putouts from first base in his two games at that position. Peyton Osbon had 13 putouts from centerfield, and
Bo Ybarra had nine as catcher.
"As a young coach with an overall young team, I couldn't have asked for a better effort this weekend," said Appel on the series. "I tell them every day that this type of series is why we play this game. I am proud of how they responded after two really tough losses on day one. I really believe this might be the answer to help us make a run at making the conference tournament. These kids really have a bright future here at OPSU, they play the game right, they are hungry to get better every day, and they are a ton of fun to be around."
Aggie fans will get to see this hard-nosed team at home this week, as the Aggies are set for a double-header against Colorado Christian Wednesday, March 26; first pitch will take place at 1 p.m. The Aggies now own a 9-22 overall record with two Heartland victories.
