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Aggies split with high-scoring 'Hounds
LAWTON, Oklahoma (March 2) – The weather ended up cooperating this weekend for a beautiful three days of baseball at Cameron’s McCord Field. The Cameron Aggie baseball team (11-9, 5-6 LSC) hosted a three-day, four-game series with the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds (9-7, 4-4 LSC) beginning on Friday and ending this afternoon.
CU and ENMU split the series 2-2, but Cameron held a lead in both of their losses and had a chance to sweep the high-scoring Greyhounds. The weekend featured everything from a grand-slam, to a complete game shutout, to even a walk-off homerun.
“We needed to take three or four of the games at home and couldn’t do that,” Head Coach Todd Holland said. “ENMU did a good job though, and they stayed in every game. The one thing we didn’t do was battle.”
In Friday’s nine-inning game, the Aggies opened up an early 2-0 lead and held onto it until deep in the game. The Greyhounds took their first lead of the game in the seventh inning going up 3-2, but CU was able to tie it up and eventually force it into extra innings.
After shutting the ‘Hounds out in the top of the tenth, Coach Holland brought in pinch-hitter Josh Mathiesen to lead off in the bottom half. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Mathiesen rocketed the ball well over the leftfield fence to win the game for CU on a pinch-hit, walk-off homerun. Cameron ended up winning 4-3.
Senior pitcher Cody Dillon was robbed of his victory after pitching an outstanding 6.2 innings. He allowed only 2 runs, only 1 earned, on 4 hits and faced a total of 25 batters. He also recorded 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. Dillon was in line for the win but the Greyhounds tied the ballgame and eventually took the lead just two batters after Dillon was relieved.
Senior outfielder Tyson Moll had a solid game at the plate, going 2-4. He recorded one of CU’s 4 RBI on 1 of his 2 singles in the game. Moll started in leftfield for the Aggies.
On Saturday the teams matched up for an afternoon double-header. In the first game the Aggies got things started in a hurry and opened up a 7-0 lead after just the first inning. The Greyhounds battled back with a seven-run inning of their own in the second inning, tying the game at 7-7.
Cameron regained the lead and was up 10-7 before ENMU once again tied the ballgame, this time at 10-10. The Aggies held an 11-10 lead for a few innings but the Greyhounds scored 5 more runs over the final 2 innings to win the ballgame 15-13. Both teams went through 4 pitchers in the game.
Senior outfielder Jorey Price and junior infielder Nate Arevalo both recorded 3 RBI in the game. Price had a huge day at the plate, going 2-3 with a big three-run homerun in the bottom of the first inning. Arevalo also recorded his trio of RBI in the first inning thanks to a double.
Sophomore third-baseman Blake Watson led the Aggies offensively with an outstanding 5 RBI. Watson went 3-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle. He recorded a single, a double, and a homerun in the game, and was also walked once.
In Saturday’s nightcap the Aggies went onto a 4-0 victory behind incredible pitching by junior pitcher Brad Bichel. Bichel went the distance and pitched a complete game shutout. He went all 7.0 innings and gave up no runs on a mere 4 hits. He faced a total of 29 batters, striking out 7 and walking only 3.
Cameron didn’t get on the board until the fourth inning when they went up 3-0. The Aggies padded their lead a bit in the sixth frame, but enough damage had already been done. Cameron only recorded 6 hits in the game.
Blake Watson had another great game at the plate as he went 2-2 with a team-high 2 RBI. He recorded a single, a double, and a sacrifice hit in the game.
The Aggie baseball team entered Sunday’s final contest with a 2-1 series lead and were hoping to win 3 out of 4 from the high-scoring Greyhounds. Unfortunately the Aggies dropped the fourth and final game, 20-7, in a battle that appeared to be headed towards an Aggie victory until late in the game.
CU and ENMU bounced back and forth as one team would take a lead and then the other would come right back and take a lead of their own. Cameron held a 3-2 lead after the fourth inning, but the Greyhounds tied it up in the fifth. With the score tied at 3-3, the Greyhounds came up to bat in the sixth inning for the first of their two seven-run innings. ENMU posted a seven-spot in the sixth and eighth innings to run-rule the Aggies.
Cameron avoided a run-ruling in the seventh inning, but could not avoid it in the eighth. The game was called because Cameron was down by at least ten runs after the eighth inning. The Aggies committed 4 errors in the game but recorded 13 hits. The Greyhounds recorded 3 errors and finished with 18 hits.
Nearly every Aggie pitcher saw action this weekend as another four pitchers threw in today’s game. Senior outfielder/pitcher Brooks Pollard was saddled with the loss but put in a solid 5.1 innings of work. He allowed 7 runs, only 6 earned, on 6 hits. He faced 31 batters and struck out 3, but walked 5.
Senior infielder Bryan Nichols had a nice game for CU after taking over for Kevin Mentel at second-base late in the game. In Nichols’ first and only at-bat, he sent a dinger over the scoreboard in leftfield for a three-run homerun. He finished the game 1-1 with a team-high 3 RBI.
Junior catcher Kyle Nyhart also went yard for the Aggies, and went 2-3 with a solo homerun for his only RBI. Junior outfielder Josh Barnett had a strong game at the plate for CU, opening up the game with back-to-back doubles. Barnett finished the game 2-5 with a pair of strikeouts.
The Aggies now hit the road and travel to Durant, Oklahoma, next weekend for a four-game series with Southeastern Oklahoma State. The series kicks off at 2:00pm on Friday in a single, nine-inning game. Cameron then travels to Edmond, Oklahoma, on March 11, to take on the University of Indianapolis in another single, nine-inning game.
“After a weekend like this the only one place to go is up,” Coach Holland said. “You can’t look back on it so we will need to regroup and go. Hopefully the guys figure out that what they are doing is not working.”
The next home series for the Aggies begins on Friday, March 14, when the RiverHawks of Northeastern State University come to town. For those who are unable to make it out to McCord Field for each of Cameron’s home games, you can log on to goaggies.cameron.edu and watch the live telecast of both audio and video for free by clicking on the ‘Aggie Video Network’ link. Play-by-play commentary this season is provided by Cameron’s Director of Sports Information, Craig Martin. All home games will be webcast this year.
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