RAMS TAKE TWO FROM IOWA WESLEYAN
March 12, 2006

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FORT WORTH, TX:  The Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (9-5) took a pair of wins over Iowa Wesleyan College (3-5) on Sunday.  The day began by wrapping up Saturday’s game, which was suspended due to darkness in a 3-3 tie after ten innings.  Kent Russell ended that game quickly with a walk-off home run in the eleventh, and Texas Wesleyan pounded out 16 hits in a 16-0 win in game two.

The Rams had staged a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth to tie Saturday’s game at three.  When play resumed on Sunday, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs, but Jason Hopson induced a third-to-home-to-first double play and a ground out to second to end the threat.

That set up a dramatic walk-off home run from senior Kent Russell who had entered the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning.

Hopson earned the win with one scoreless inning, and was Texas Wesleyan’s starter in game two.

The momentum from game one carried over into game two.  In the first inning, Jason Diaz ripped a lead off single, and Zach Archer and Josh Vander Hey followed with back-to-back home runs.  After Travis Clifford lined out, Russell singled and Jeff Piaskowski hit the Rams’ third home run of the inning to give Texas Wesleyan a 5-0 lead.

In the second, Brandon Frazier smashed a lead off triple off the wall in left center.  An RBI double from Diaz, an RBI single from Archer, and an RBI double from Clifford made it 8-0.

The Rams loaded the bases with one out in the third after drawing three walks.  A wild pitch followed by a double from Vander Hey brought the score to 11-0.  The fourth and fifth innings brought more of the same for the Rams as they scored four more runs on four more hits.  Texas Wesleyan added one more in the sixth for the 16-0 final.

Hopson (3-2) earned his second win of the day by scattering four hits across five innings.  Vander Hey led the Rams at the plate by going 3-5 with a run and three RBI.  Archer went 2-3 with two runs and three RBI.