FORT WORTH, Texas - The Texas Wesleyan baseball team blistered Wiley pitching for 32 runs in a three-game series over the weekend at LaGrave Field, scoring in 14 of the 17 innings in which they batted. The Rams won 13-3 on Friday, then took both games of a Saturday doubleheader by scores of 13-2 and 6-1. Wesleyan now stands at ten games over .500 for the first time this season, improving to 28-18-1 overall and 12-9 in Red River Conference play.

Game 1 (Friday): The Rams only managed six hits in the game, but used 18 walks, a pair of hit batsmen, and six Wiley errors to total 32 base runners, scoring in every inning as the game was shortened to seven due to the ten-run mercy rule.

Nathan Murrell led of the bottom of the first with a bloop double, and scored the game’s first run on Matt Putman’s grounder to short.

The Rams put another run on the board in the second when Billy Eaton, who walked leading off, moved to third on Derek Armstrong’s double, then scored on Murrell’s sacrifice fly to left.

In the third, Wesleyan tagged the Wildcats for three more runs. Putman led off with a smash down the left-field line for two bases, and was replaced by courtesy runner Mike Greene who promptly took third on a wild pitch. Aaron Ellis walked and stole second, and after Travis Clifford struck out, Billy Eaton hit a sacrifice fly to left, plating Greene and sending Ellis to third. Armstrong followed with a walk and a steal, bringing up Eric Vaughn. A smash on the ground to shortstop by Vaughn should have been the third out of the inning, but the ball kicked off of the fielder’s glove into shallow centerfield, allowing both Ellis and Armstrong to score to put the Rams up by five.

The Wildcats finally broke through in the top of the fourth, posting their first run and first hit of the game. A one-out error and a stolen base put Ernest Sykes on second base, and he came home on Larry Goree’s well-hit double to right center.

Jeremy Dutton led off the bottom-half of the inning with a smash to the left side, which went through the third baseman‘s legs, allowing Dutton to advance all the way to second base. Ellis walked, but was erased on Kevin Kidd’s fielder’s choice, leaving runners on the corners with one out. After Carlos Medina popped out, Armstrong drew a walk to load the bases. Vaughn then hit another hard shot to short, and again it got past the fielder, allowing the Rams’ sixth run to cross the plate.

Cody Henderson walked to open the bottom of the fifth, then stole second and advanced to third when the throw down deflected into the outfield. He scored two pitches later on a passed ball. The Rams loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch, but Armstrong and Cole Henry were both called out on strikes to end the threat.

Wiley scored a pair in the top of the sixth to make things at least a little interesting. Orien Green reached on an error and moved to second on Sykes’ walk. The two pulled off a successful double-steal, and would score on back-to-back infield grounders. Maurice Mack knocked home Green with a ball to short that was misplayed for an error, and Walter Washington grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice to allow Sykes to score. Both runs, like the one scored in the fourth inning, were unearned.

In the sixth for Wesleyan, the first three runners reached base. Greene was safe on an error by the third baseman, Henderson ripped an opposite-field single, and Craft was hit by a pitch to load them up. Dutton flied out to center, but Ellis and pinch-hitter Adrian Cardenas each walked to force in a pair of runs. The Rams left them loaded as Medina and Armstrong each popped out to end the innings.

Up by a score of 11-3, the Rams came into the bottom of the seventh needing just two runs to go up by ten and end the game. Vaughn led off with a double, and Greene walked. Henderson connected for his second hit of the game, scoring Vaughn and leaving runners at first and second with nobody out. Cole Henry grounded out to second, allowing the runners to advance. The next batter, Dutton, hit a fly ball to left, probably deep enough to give Greene a shot at scoring, but he did not attempt to tag up. Ellis drew another walk - his school-record sixth of the game - to load the bases, but before Cardenas had a chance to drive home the final run, Greene scored on a wild pitch to end the contest.

Wesleyan starter Andy Hughes threw six innings, allowing three runs (none earned) on three hits, striking out seven and walking one. Cal Cline pitched a perfect seventh, adding one strikeout to his totals.

Game 2 (Saturday): The Rams again won a shortened game, scoring nine runs in the third on route to a 13-2 win in five innings. Putman connected for his third homer of the week, and seven other Rams had at least one RBI in the contest.

Wiley opened the scoring in the top of the first, scoring both of their runs on four hits against Wesleyan starter Shea Harrison. Michael Williams led off with a walk, and after Orien Green struck out, Larry Goree, Walter Washington, Tremain Jones, and Lionel Alpough all hit seeing-eye singles to push two runners across.

In Wesleyan‘s half, Vaughn led off by reaching base for the third time in the series on an error by the shortstop. He stole second, and took third when the throw hit his helmet on a bounce and careened into left field. Bolivar then hit a grounder to second for an RBI, cutting Wiley’s lead in half. He was safe at first on a throwing error, but the Rams were retired in order after that to end the inning.

In the bottom of the second, Ellis finally saw a pitch from Wiley that he liked and roped a single up the middle. He stole second to get into scoring position, but looked as though he would be stranded after consecutive fly-outs by Trey Combs and Cole Henry. With two down, Greene knocked a single back up the middle to plate Ellis, Vaughn followed with a base hit, and the pair executed a double steal to put two in scoring position for Bolivar. He hit a ground ball through the legs of Wiley’s shortstop to bring home two more runs, and the Rams took their first lead of the game.

Wesleyan put the game away in the third. Putman led off with his team-leading sixth homer of the season, and each of the next eight Ram batters reached safely. Craft singled, Ellis walked, Combs reached on catcher’s interference, Henry doubled to drive in a pair of runs, Greene walked to load the bases, Vaughn reached and drove in a run on an error by the second baseman, Bolivar singled home a run, and Dutton took a fastball in the ribs for an RBI as the Rams batted around without making an out. Putman, who started it all, then made the first out of the inning, but still drove home a run with a sacrifice fly to right field. Craft followed with another sac fly, Ellis walked again, and Combs knocked in a run with a single before Henry grounded out to second to end the inning. All told, the Rams put up nine runs on five hits, three walks, one hit-by-pitch, and one error.

Neither team scored from that point on. Tim McWilliams came in to pitch in the fourth for Wesleyan and struck out the side in order. He would finish with two shutout innings and five Ks, though he did allow three consecutive singles in the fifth and needed a nice relay from Vaughn to Craft to Combs to cut down a potential run at the plate for the second out. Harrison gave up two earned runs on four hits in three innings, striking out six and walking three.

Game 3 (Saturday): Matt Mull gave up three hits in five shutout innings and Derek Armstrong scored twice and drove in a run with a pair of doubles as the Rams closed out the conference series with a 6-1 win in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

For the third time in the series, Wesleyan put a run on the board in the first inning. With one out, Bolivar reached on an error and scored on Craft’s single to left.

In the second, Travis Clifford singled, Armstrong was hit by a pitch, and Eric Casias reached on an error to load the bases. Clifford scored on Henry’s groundout to first to put the Rams up by two.

Wesleyan didn’t score in the third, but added three in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. With one down, Clifford blasted a triple to right center, and Henderson brought him home with a single. Armstrong followed with a smash to the wall in left to plate Henderson, and scored an out later on Henry’s single.

The Wildcats scored their lone run, an unearned tally, in the sixth off Wesleyan reliever Bryant Wilson. After striking out the first batter he faced, Wilson got Goree to ground to second, but the throw from Henderson pulled Clifford off the bag, and after a stolen base, Maurice Mack hit a soft liner into center for an RBI.

Armstrong led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, moved to third on Casias’ single, and scored two outs later on a passed ball to cap the scoring.

Seth Manning took the mound for Wesleyan in the top of the seventh and struck out the side on ten pitches.

Mull got the win for the Rams, striking out five with no walks, though he did hit a batter in the fifth.

Wesleyan returns to action on Monday and Tuesday, traveling to Hawkins, Texas to face Red River Conference rival Jarvis Christian College. The Rams’ next home series is this Friday and Saturday against Houston Baptist. Friday’s single game is scheduled for 2 PM, but may be moved back to play under the lights at LaGrave Field. Check back later in the week for more details. Saturday’s doubleheader begins at 1 PM.