RAMS SWEEP DOUBLE-DIP FROM #15 PIONEERS
March 12, 2007

Box Score - Game One

Box Score - Game Two

PLAINVIEW, TX:  The Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (13-8) swept a doubleheader at 15th ranked Wayland Baptist University (22-4-1) on Wednesday.  After the smoke cleared from 11 home runs in the two games, the Rams had taken game-one 7-6 in extra innings and exploded for a 19-5 win in game-two.

The two teams needed nine innings to decide a scheduled seven inning ball-game in game-one.  After getting an RBI double from Zach Smith in the first, the Rams went ahead 3-0 in the second, scoring two runs on a WBU error and an RBI single from Ryan Jacobi.

The Pioneers got on the board with a home run from Keith Martin in the bottom of the second, but the Rams added two more in the third with a home run from Blake Walker and an RBI single from Jerry Fisher.

Wayland Baptist blasted two long balls in the third and one more in the fourth to go ahead 6-5.  In the top of the seventh, Fisher reached on an error, and Brandon Frazier tied the game up with a two-out double.  The Rams then loaded the bases, but WBU got out of the jam with a fly to center.

The game remained knotted at six until the ninth inning, when Fisher drilled a leadoff homer.

Steven DeFratus (3-2) earned the win after working five innings of scoreless relief.  DeFratus allowed just three hits while walking none and striking out one.  Gary Gates (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing Fisher’s home run in one inning pitched.

Fisher went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored.  Frazier, Jacobi, and Antoine Cole all recorded a pair of hits.

In game two, the Rams jumped on the Pioneers from the start.  Texas Wesleyan sent 13 men to the plate in the first inning and plated ten runs on seven hits. 

The Rams got a two-run doubles from Walker and Fisher before Smith put the exclamation point on the rally with a grand slam home run to left center.  A three-run homer off of Frazier’s bat highlighted a four-run second.  After another three-run homer in the third, this time from Butch Ballez, and a two-run shot from Walker in the fourth, the Rams had run away with a 19-5 score.

Smith continued to pound the baseball, going 4-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored.  Smith is hitting .630 (17-27) with 18 RBI and 12 runs scored during his current seven-game hitting streak.  Walker added a 3-for-4 performance with four RBI and three runs scored while Ballez went 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Aaron Wimpee (4-0) lowered his ERA to 1.40 on the year after allowing two earned runs on eight hits while striking out four in five innings.

The Rams return to action on Friday, when they host Marietta College.  Game-one of that doubleheader is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.