RAMS KEEP HITTING:

SPLIT WITH MH-B
April 11, 2006

FORT WORTH, TX:  A day after pounding out 22 hits against East Texas Baptist, the Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (17-17) notched 25 more hits in a doubleheader split with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (13-20).  In both games, every starter in the Wesleyan lineup collected at least one hit.  The Crusaders staged a comeback to take game one 10-6, but the Rams dominated game two 12-4.

Mary Hardin-Baylor used RBI-singles from Dean Shirley, Kyle Shipp, and Earnest Pena as well as an RBI-double from Adam Froeschl to take a 4-0 lead in the second.

Texas Wesleyan answered the call in the bottom of the frame.  Billie Hicks ripped a leadoff home run to left.  Chris Palmer and Jeff Piaskowski followed with singles, and, after the Crusader’s turned a double play, Cory Venable and Jason Diaz ripped RBI singles to pull the Rams within one at 4-3.

In the third, Zach Archer drew a leadoff, advanced to third on a single from Travis Clifford, and tied the game when he scored on a ground ball from Hicks.  The Rams used a walk, a single, and a pair of Crusader errors to take a 6-4 advantage in the fifth.

After a Texas Wesleyan error kept the sixth inning alive, Chase Beyrand hit a three-run homer over the wall in left center to put UMHB back on top 7-6.  In the seventh, the Crusaders plated three more.  With two outs, UMHB strung together three consecutive singles followed by a two-run double from Steven Reinlie.

Hunter Hawkins earned the win after tossing three innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on one hit.  Michael Talley fell to 2-2 on the season after allowing five runs (two earned) on three hits in 2.2 innings of work.

Zach Archer and Chris Palmer led the Rams’ offense with two hits apiece.  Froeschl led the Crusaders by going 3-4 at the plate.

In game two, Brandon Williams staked UMHB to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run shot to left.  The Crusaders added an unearned tally in the second, but the Rams used five singles and a UMHB error to take a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the inning.  Texas Wesleyan capitalized on another Crusader error in the third to stretch their lead to 8-3.

The Rams continued to pour it on in the fourth, scoring three more runs on four hits to take an 11-3 lead.  A single from Jeremy Howard and a double from Billie Hicks made it 12-3 in the fifth.  UMHB scored one in the seventh for the 12-4 final.

Weston Wood improved to 3-2 with the win after tossing one scoreless inning.  The Rams also benefited from two perfect inning of relief from Josh Vander Hey and one from Jeff Piaskowski.  Five Rams recorded multiple hits and eight of nine starters recorded at least one RBI.