Baseball | 5/7/2019 10:25:00 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.— Aggie Baseball made their second-ever post-season appearance as they headed to the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament back-to-back years. The Aggies faced the No. 8 Oklahoma City Stars for the first game of the tournament and then took on the No. 12 Texas Wesleyan Rams for game two before double elimination concluded their time at Jim Wade Stadium in OKC.
OPSU gave OCU a hard run for their money as the Aggies kept the two-seed/seventh-nationally ranked team in a hold through seven innings before OCU brought in the winning run in the top of the eighth.
Luis Rodriguez started off the first inning by sending the fourth pitch of his at-bat over the right field fence.
Jared Mayeda,
Kasey Leatherwood and
Gerson Padilla all reached base on hits and Mayeda and Leatherwood came across the plate to put the Aggies up 3-0 on the Stars early. Joey Goetze and the Aggie defense kept the Stars scoreless through two innings until they yielded four runs in the top of the third, and the Stars furthered their advantage with two runs off two hits in the top of the fifth to make it a 6-3 game. The Aggies exploded in the bottom of the frame, adding four runs to regain the lead. Back-to-back singles from
Payton Rhodes and Rodriguez got two runners on, and Mayeda took the opportunity to slam his first home run of the season over left field to send the three Aggies across the plate. DH
Claytin Beaver stepped up and followed suit with his own home run to round the bases and give the Aggies the go ahead run, 7-6. OCU brought in two more in the top of the seventh, but the Aggies answered back in the bottom of the inning as Padilla homered over left field to tie it back up at 8-8. Another two runs in the top of the eighth for the Stars put them back up, and the Aggies battled in the bottom of the frame from an RBI single from Mayeda, but they would not be able to close the one-run gap against the Stars' closer, Andrews, and the Aggies would take the hard-fought loss, 10-9.
Leading the Aggies at the plate were Mayeda, who was 3 for 5 with 3RBI and a home run to his name, and Rodriguez who went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a home run.
The Aggies fell to Texas Wesleyan in the night cap, succumbing to double-elimination after facing three-seed/ twelfth-ranked team in the nation following the loss to OCU. The Rams were upset by unranked, six-seed MACU in their game one and went after the Aggies with a vengeance to remain in the tournament. Jake Dean lead the Aggies in hits, going 3-4 at the plate with a triple and 3RBI. Mayeda was 2-3 and both Beaver and Padilla went 2-4 with an RBI each.
The coaching staff reiterated their pride in the team, and the nine graduating seniors were able to cap off their final season as part of an Aggie team who continued to make history with this post-season appearance.
