Baseball completes Sweep over Rust College
TATUM, Texas - The defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season champion Wiley University baseball team took control in the fifth inning during a 7-2 victory in Game 2, and Jaziel Martinez hit a three-run home run to help the Wildcats rally for an 8-5 win in the finale to secure a three-game Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) series sweep over Rust College Sunday at Tatum Eagle Park.
The Wildcats (16-8, 8-1 HBCUAC) won their fifth straight game and improved to 11-2 in home games. They win their third conference series and second with a sweep. The Game 3 victory marks the fourth time the Wildcats have won when trailing after five innings or later.
The second game, which started yesterday afternoon at Coker Field, resumed in the top of the fourth with runners on first and second and one out. Rust took a 2-1 lead on an infield single to third, but Ready caught Marques Smith leading off third base and tagged him for the second out. Isaac Burciaga ended the inning by picking Christopher Brock off first.
Wiley was held scoreless in the fourth. Ryan Ready and Smauri Abram singled, but the inning ended on a fielder's choice. Laker McPherson, Eddie Garza and Amir Mason walked to load the bases in the fifth inning. Jacob Perez hit a ground ball to short and Denarrium Warren lost control of the ball in an attempt to throw to second, allowing McPherson to score the tying run. With one out, Ivan Del Villar hit a deep fly ball to center field, that hit the top of the wall and bounced back into play. Garza, Mason and Perez scored to give the Wildcats a 5-2 lead. Jhan Carlos Javier hammered a pitch, which dropped beside the right fielder and rolled to the wall. Javier slid into third for an RBI triple. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Abram.
Mason went 2-for-3 with a run and a run batted in. Garza recorded a hit, a run and a stolen base. Ethan Jones picked up his first career victory. He held the Bearcats to a hit in three innings and struck out one. He retired nine of the eleven batters he faced.
Wiley took a 2-1 lead in the first inning of the finale. Garza led off with a walk and stole second and Mason reached on an error. Ready brought Garza home with a groundball to short. An infield single by Del Villar scored Mason.
The lead held until the third inning, when Rust put up four runs on four hits. Three of the hits came with two outs in the inning. The inning ended when Jaziel Martinez threw out Kyrent Cole who attempted to steal second. The Wildcats scored a run in the fourth inning. Martinez was hit by a pitch with two outs. Abel Rodriguez Jr. brought home Sental Washington, who courtesy ran for Martinez, with an RBI double off the right field wall.
Nick Rodriguez pitched a scoreless fifth inning, only giving up a double with two outs and struck out two batters. Perez led off with a double to deep left-center field but was thrown out on a fielder's choice ground ball. With two outs, Javier extended the inning with a walk. Abram brought home Ready with an infield single to second base, which set up Martinez' go-ahead blast.
Rodriguez picked up his fourth victory in a five-inning outing. He held Rust scoreless in the second, fourth and fifth innings and struck out four batters. Jalen Porter earned his first save, holding Rust to one hit in two innings and struck out four.
The Wildcats will visit Louisiana Christian University at 5 p.m. Tuesday. It swept the University of the Southwest to improve to 11-14.
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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