Baseball | 4/5/2018 9:37:00 AM

Box Score Wichita, Kan.—The Aggies traveled to Wichita, Kansas for a midweek matchup on Wednesday against the Friends University Falcons. In a close game, the Aggies were beat out in the bottom of the ninth and came away with a loss, 4-3.

Freshman pitcher Blake Tucker took the mound for the single, nine-inning contest and kept the Falcons scoreless through his five innings pitched. The Aggies produced a successful sixth, scoring all three runs of the game in the top of the inning. Aaron Moreno reached on an error by the Falcon's third baseman and came around to score on a cleanly laid bunt from catcher Zachary Schrick. Gerson Padilla singled to left field and was advanced home off the bat of Jared Mayeda. Short stop Juan Sanchez reached on a fielder's choice and plated the third run of the game on a squeeze play from Jaylon Burnett.

Senior Josh Casillas relieved Tucker on the mound and Friends countered with a run in the bottom of the inning to bring the score 3-1. The seventh inning left both teams scoreless, with Charles Marini on the bump for the Aggies. Continuing the pitching fluctuations, Corey Ley came in to keep the Falcons at bay, but gave up one run in the bottom of the eighth. Adrian Lopez was the final pitcher out of the bullpen for the Aggies and entered in the ninth to close out the game. Lopez gave up a hit-by-pitch that would eventually score off a single from the Falcons and tie the score 3-3. The tension continued as the Falcons loaded the bases, and Lopez would hit his second batter of the inning to walk in the scoring run and leave the Flacons up 4-3.

The Aggies hold an 18-22 record on the season and are currently .500 in conference at 9-9. They will take to the road this weekend for a three-game SAC series against the No. 19 Texas Wesleyan Rams in Fort Worth over April 7-8. The Aggies return home on April 10 for a midweek double header against the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.