Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—Monday brought sunshine and big hits to the ballpark as the Aggies added two wins in a doubleheader matchup with Southern Nazarene University.
The Panhandle State baseball team won the day in grand fashion taking a 20-run victory over the Crimson Storm in game one (25-5) and edging out a walk-off win in game two (16-15). With a rare day of no wind in the Panhandle, both teams hit well over the two-game stint. The Aggies held a .549 team batting average, while SNU hit at .413 on the day. With ten doubles, one triple and one homer, Panhandle State tallied 39 hits over 71 at bats for a .761 slugging percentage.
Senior lefty
Tristan Hubler got the start in game one and earned his first win of the season in 5.0 innings with six hits and three earned runs. Pitchers
Jeremy Norris and
Brandon Judd finished out with one inning each for the Aggies.
Southern Nazarene got off to a quick start taking two runs in the first inning and one in the second to hold a 3-0 lead. The Aggies put up a big inning in the fifth starting with a leadoff double by right fielder
Juan Rubayo and a single by shortstop
Nate Kelly. Rubayo came home on a balk, and catcher
Dehryen Noriega sent Kelly home with a double down the right field line. Centerfielder
Chris Casias then knocked an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the second. A sac bunt by
Joseph Cerda advanced two runners into scoring position and was followed up by a deep hit to centerfield by
Chris Schraer that brought both runners home. After two innings in the book, the Aggies owned a 5-3 lead.
Hubler threw three grounders in a row to close out the third inning for the Crimson Storm, but the real storm was brewing as the Aggies went on to add nine runs in the bottom half of the act. A pitching change was prompted by SNU as the Aggies first four batters reached base with a single, one hit batter and two walks.
Tiler Fletcher's base on balls was good for on RBI as back-to-back wild pitches moved the first two runners up.
Chris Casias and Joesph Cerda also received credit for one RBI each for bases-loaded walks. The Aggies hit through the order scoring runs on an RBI single by Schraer, two-run single by Robert Rodriguez, two-run triple by Kelly and an RBI double by Noriega. The third inning ended with Panhandle State sitting on a 14-3 lead.
The fourth inning went down fast with three-up and three-down for both dugouts. SNU claimed one run in the fifth and entered their fourth pitcher in the bottom of the inning. With one out and two runners on base,
Nate Kelly stepped up with a big double to left field to score two runs, pulling the Aggies into a comfortable twelve-run lead (16-4) going into the sixth. Norris gave up one hit and zero runs during his inning for Panhandle, leading way to another nine-inning stretch for the Aggies in the bottom of the sixth.
Panhandle's depth showed strong as pinch hitters stepped in seamlessly, getting hits in each at bat in the sixth inning. Junior
Luis Tapia subbed in for the designated hitter,
B.J. Henry, and went two for two at the plate; Tapia brought in three RBI on two doubles to each side of the field. Catcher
Armando Mendez came to bat for Noriega and hit an RBI single, and sophomore
Quinn O'Neill knocked a one-run double during his at bat for Schraer. Of the starters, Rubayo, Fletcher and Cerda each hit RBI singles in the sixth bringing the Aggie advantage to 25-4. The Crimson Storm managed one run in the seventh but fell 25-5 in the end; starting pitcher Anthony Wiggins took the loss for SNU.
Game two had the Aggies trailing through the sixth inning. SNU jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the third inning, scoring three runs in the first, five in the second and one in the third. The Aggies opened scoring with one run in the first inning, an RBI double by Robert Rodriguez;
Armando Mendez brought in another run in the second on a single to right field.
Panhandle went through four pitchers in four innings starting with freshman
Jerald Gaskin. Gaskin went 1.0 innings and was followed up by
Zane Grigsby,
Josh Casillas and
Michael Mendoza who combined for three innings of work. Mendoza entered with one out in the third and pitched through the first two batters in the fifth. Senior
Felipe Beltran relieved Mendoza and faced two batters before
Hunter Hand replaced him with zero outs and bases loaded. A sac fly with one out scored the Crimson Storm's second run of the inning increasing their lead to nine runs (11-2).
The Aggies held steady and fought back with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Singles by Cerda and Schraer got the inning off to a good start and a fly ball by
B.J. Henry moved Cerda to third. Schraer then stole second base putting both runners in scoring position; a balk by the SNU pitcher advanced the runners sending Cerda home for the first run of the inning. Robert Rodriguez and
Nate Kelly each hit RBI singles; two walked batters loaded the bases as pinch hitter
Brendan O'Flynn drove a double deep into centerfield bringing in all three runners ahead of him. Back to the top of the order, Cerda finished off the inning with an RBI single to bridge the gap to an 11-9 ballgame.
Southern Nazarene held the lead, gaining four runs in the sixth inning, which brought in the Aggies closer, senior
Scott Cutright, who got the Aggies out of the inning with a grounder and swinging strikeout. Panhandle kept the hits coming in the bottom of the sixth as Rodriguez let loose with a solo homerun over left field making it a five-point margin going into the seventh (15-10). Cutright allowed one hit and a fielder's choice, but zero runs scored for his opponent in the final inning.
An exciting bottom half in the seventh brought in six runs for the home team including the walk-off bunt by
Tiler Fletcher that won the game. The Aggies leadoff batter,
Dehryen Noriega, walked and was sent to third on a double by Fletcher to start things off. Fletcher then advanced as his follow-up hitter
Quinn O'Neill reached base on balls to fill the bases. Cerda scored two with a big single through the left-center gap and a good eye by
Chris Schraer left the bases loaded with the third walk.
B.J. Henry did his job hitting a sac fly to score another run for the Aggies, and two more walked batters brought in a fourth RBI. With Noriega back at the plate, an RBI single scored the tying run to bring the game at 15-all. Fletcher stepped up with bases loaded and tapped a perfect bunt to reach base and bring in the winning run. Cutright took the win for Panhandle over a 1.2 inning stretch with just one hit allowed. Right fielder Mike Descisciolo got the loss, coming in as the closing pitcher for Southern Nazarene.
With the win, the Aggies improve to 8-20 on the season; Southern Nazarene dropped to 2-24. Panhandle State's head baseball coach
Jason Miner commented after the games. "We had a lot of confidence in both games and did a good job coming back in game two. We never got away from our offensive game plan and did a good job of getting hits when we needed it."
The Aggies will re-enter Heartland Conference play this weekend with games against the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Due to weather, games will now take place Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26. Saturday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. with first pitch on Sunday at Noon.
