Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—Starting off strong in Saturday's first matchup against Southwestern Oklahoma State, the Aggies came away empty-handed as the Bulldogs took two wins back to Weatherford. SWOSU sent game one into an extra inning taking a 2-1 victory over Panhandle in the eighth; the Bulldogs then put on a hitting show in game two winning 11-1 in the scheduled seven-inning contest.

It was a great day for baseball and Aggie fans showed up in numbers ready to support the home team. Justin Palacios who was there to represent Palacios Construction, an official game sponsor of Panhandle State Baseball, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before senior lefty Sam Beattie took the mound as the Aggies' starting pitcher in their first game of the 2017 season.

The Bulldogs got a single off on Beattie during their first at-bat, but solid fielding and a strikeout looking kept one runner on base to end the first inning. Joseph Cerda and Robert Rodriguez were the only two Aggies to reach base in the bottom-half of the inning; Cerda with a single and Rodriguez on a walk. The second inning held the score at 0-0 and Beattie tossed three ground-outs in the third, keeping the Bulldogs at bay. In the bottom of the third, Chris Casias reached on an infield error, and Cerda pushed him to second on a sac-bunt. BJ Henry then singled to left field moving Cerda to third; Cerda crossed home for the first run of the day as Rodriguez hit a sac-fly to right field for the RBI.

SWOSU evened the score in the next inning with two outs on the board; an Aggie error and two wild pitches scored the third batter up who reached on a single. Things were looking up when Nate Kelly stepped up with a double down the left line to open the bottom of the fourth, but the following three batters got out leaving Kelly on base. Innings five through seven saw two hits and zero runs for each team. Beattie served up two strikes swinging in the seventh, but senior Scott Cutright came in to close out the eighth after Beattie gave up a single and an error to the first two batters. SWOSU scored the final run of the game on a sac-bunt.

Game two saw six pitchers enter for the Aggies as the Bulldogs came out swinging. Southwestern scored five runs in the first inning and four in the second, putting Panhandle behind 9-0 early in the game. Senior Tristan Hubler and junior Adrian Lopez were the first two pitchers up for the Aggies; Hubler served through one out in the first and Lopez went for 1.2 innings. The two Aggies owned the first nine runs of the game, eight earned. Opening the third inning for the Aggies was junior right-hander, Dallas Guerrero. During his two innings on the mound, Guerrero gave up two hits, both doubles, but allowed zero runs to come through. Logan Litton, Corey Ley and Zane Grigsby each got one inning under their belts, with Grigsby giving up two runs in the seventh after striking out his first batter. The Aggies managed on run in the bottom of the sixth when Dehryen Noriega reached base on balls and advanced through on a single, batter hit by pitch and a sac fly.

For the series, the Aggies totaled eight hits and two RBI, led by BJ Henry and Nate Kelly who each went two of six at the plate. SWOSU's Jason Nichols finished as the Bulldogs leading batter with four hits on seven at bats, including two doubles. As a team the Bulldogs totaled 19 hits and 12 RBI over the two games, in game two they fired three homers, three doubles and one triple on the Aggies. Kelly had the Aggies only hit that went for extra bases.

The Aggies start off 2017 with a 0-2 record and will take to the road for a weekend tournament in Moore, Okla. Panhandle will play a four-game series Feb. 10-11 with two games against Randall University and two games against York College. The team will then travel to Hays, Kan. and Canyon, Texas to take on Fort Hays State on Feb. 15 and WTAMU on Feb. 17-18. The Aggies return home for a three-game stint with Colorado Christian Feb. 24-25.