Baseball pounds Rust College in Series Opener
The defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season champion Wiley University baseball team hit four home runs and broke the game open in the fourth inning of a 21-8 rout over Rust College in the series opener of a Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) series Friday at Coker Field.
The Wildcats (14-8, 6-1 HBCUAC) won their third straight game and improved to 9-2 in home games. They pick up their eighth double-digit victory. Two of the home runs were hit by Ivan Del Villar, who hit a grand slam, which capped off a 13-run fourth inning for the Wildcats and hit a solo shot in the sixth inning. He finished the game with six runs batted in. Eddie Garza started the scoring in the fourth with a two-run shot over the right field wall for his first of the season. Smauri Abram hit a two-run home run over the left-center field wall to increase the lead to eight in the fourth.
Garza went 3-for-5 and scored three runs. Amir Mason went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI. Jacob Perez went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and scored three runs. Ryan Ready hit an RBI double and scored three runs. Del Villar went 3-for-4 and scored three runs. Abel Rodriguez Jr. reached base four times and scored three runs.
Rust struck first with two runs on a wild pitch and an errant throw. Wiley answered immediately. Garza led off with a walk and advanced to third on an errant throw by Rust's pitcher Jalen Ward. Perez and Ready tied the game with RBI doubles. Ready scored the go-ahead run when Del Villar got caught in a rundown and eventually ended up safe at second when Kyrent Cole couldn't field the throw from first. Del Villar scored on a ground ball by Anthony Castaneda.
Rodriguez led off the bottom of the fourth by taking a pitch to the helmet and came home on Garza's home run. Amir Mason, who returned to the lineup after missing the last 14 games due to injury got hit by a pitch. Perez singled and Ready reached on an error, which scored Mason. A sacrifice fly by Del Villar scored Perez. The Wildcats sent 18 batters to the plate and the Bearcats used three pitchers to get out of the inning.
Keyon Guillory (4-3) started and earned his fourth win. After allowing three runs on two hits and three walks in the first two innings, he held the Bearcats to one hit and three walks and struck out three. He finished the game with six strikeouts. Nathan Caboverde, Marquis Kuykendall and Jerrius Vickers pitched the final two innings.
The Wildcats will attempt to close the series in a doubleheader at 11 a.m. tomorrow. There are significant chances for rain. Schedule updates will be posted on the Wiley University Athletics social media accounts and wileyathletics.com.
For more coverage on the Wildcats visit https://wileyathletics.com/sports/bsb/index
About Wiley University Athletics
Wiley University sponsors 12 varsity sports: women's volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field and baseball. It competes in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) and the Continental Athletic Conference for men's and women's soccer.
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