Baseball outdone by Central Baptist
The Wiley University baseball team could not overcome early deficits as it fell 8-2 and 12-5 in the final games of its series against Central Baptist College on Saturday at Airport Park.
The Wildcats (2-12) fall to 1-5 at home and have lost their last eight games.
GAME 3
Wiley fell behind after giving up four runs on three hits, a walk and an error in the first inning. Jalen Porter settled in and retired the next seven batters - striking out four.
The Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the third. With one out, Jhan Carlos Javier walked and scored on Ivan Del Villar's double to right field. Amir Mason brought home Del Villar with a single and took second on an error.
Wiley was unable to get closer. The Mustangs added a run in the fourth and three in the seventh inning. The Wildcats had a scoring opportunity in the fourth. Abel Rodriguez led off with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball with one out. The next two batters struck out to end the inning. Wiley only had one base runner reach in the fifth and seventh innings. It struck out 12 times.
Rodriguez hit two doubles in three at-bats. Eddie Garza went 2-for-3. Porter threw five innings and struck out five. Josiah Jackson and Coren Lewis pitched the last two innings.
GAME 4
Errors put Wiley University in an early hole. A misplayed ground ball extended the first inning - allowing Central Baptist to take the lead with a triple. Daniel Cox got two of the first three batters out in the second. He got a strikeout, but the ball wasn't secured, which resulted in the runner reaching first. The Mustangs were able to extend the lead with an RBI single.
The Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the second. Del Villar led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Emanuel Gutierrez drove him in with a single.
Cox retired the Mustangs in order in the third. An error allowed them to break the game open in the fourth inning. Central Baptist plated five runs to extend its lead to 7-1. An error on a fly ball with two outs plated two runs. Cox went 3 2/3 innings and only two of the seven runs allowed were earned.
Wiley went deep twice for its first home runs at home this season in the bottom of the fifth. Anthony Castaneda hit his first career home run - sending the ball over the left-center field wall - which brought home Tyson Minter, who came in as a defensive sub in the top of the fifth. Del Villar hit a two-run home run over the center field wall for his first of the year - scoring Smauri Abram, who walked.
Only five of the 12 runs allowed by Wiley's pitchers were earned. Corey Grant pitched 1 1/3 innings. Nick Rodriguez and Dylan Washington each pitched an inning.
Del Villar went 2-for-3 and scored two runs. Minter hit two doubles. Abram hit a double.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will wrap their homestand with a doubleheader against their Highway 80 rival Jarvis Christian University. It will be their first meeting with the Bulldogs since 2022 when both schools competed in the Red River Athletic Conference.
Jarvis Christian (7-4, 4-1 RRAC) is on a three-game winning streak after sweeping Texas College in a three-game series. Statistics were only available for seven games. Yan Otero leads the Bulldogs with a .455 batting average. He has hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs while scoring nine. Alejandro Gonzalez Moreno leads Jarvis with a 2.63 earned run average and 15 strikeouts. Jalen Thomas has a 4.09 ERA with 13 strikeouts.
The Wildcats haven't beaten the Bulldogs since 2019. They have only won two of 16 games since 2016.
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