USAO gets season sweep over Aggies

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CHICKASHA, Okla. (March 15) - Ryan Brincat drew a bases-loaded walk to plate the winning run in Game 1 and Pat Bridges tossed a complete-game three-hitter in the nightcap, leading the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma to a doubleheader sweep over the Cameron baseball team Wednesday.

Coach Todd Holland's Aggies dipped to 8-13 on the year, as USAO earned a season sweep over the Aggies with wins of 11-10 and 9-2. USAO also defeated Cameron, 6-1 and 5-1, in Lawton on Feb. 14.

Cameron produced plenty of offense in Wednesday's opening game, scoring 10 runs on 12 hits. But Aggie hitters managed just three hits - none coming after the fourth inning - against Bridges in the nightcap. Holland's squad also committed five errors in the second contest, leading to four unearned runs for the Drovers (10-9).

Two of the Aggies' three hits in Game 2 came from senior Greg Patton, who finished the day 4-of-8 at the plate. B.J. Cole had two hits and six RBI in his first two plate appearances on the day and Waylon Pettet went 4-for-4 in the opening game.

Cameron jumped out to a commanding 7-0 lead early Wednesday's first contest. After Pettet walked an Blake Hughes followed with a single to open the game, Cole belted a three-run homer to left to make it 3-0. In the second frame, Pettet singled in a run before Cole smacked another dinger, this time to left-center, to put the Aggies up by seven.

USAO chipped away with runs in the second and third innings, but Cameron added two more runs in the top of the fourth on RBI singles by Patton and John Herbert and led 9-4 through four and a half innings.

But the USAO offense exploded for six runs against Aggie reliever L.J. Willis in the bottom of the fifth, using a grand slam by Jake Robertson and a two-run homer by Cody Hines to take a 10-9 lead.

Cameron tied it up in the top of the seventh on a Pettet single and RBI double by Hughes, but the Drovers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the inning on two hits and an intentional walk by Ryan Bengert, who came on in relief of Willis to start the seventh. Brincat then drew the bases-loaded walk to end the game.

In the second contest, the Aggies never got anything going offensively. Patton singled to lead off the second and followed a Herbert double with an infield single in the fourth, but that was all the Aggies could muster against Bridges, who struck out eight and walked three.

USAO committed six errors in the nightcap, including two in the final inning which led to Cameron's only runs of the game. But by that time the Drovers had built a 9-0 lead, scoring three runs each in the first, third and sixth innings on a total of just six hits.

Cameron returns to Lone Star Conference crossover play this weekend, traveling to Portales, N.M., to face Eastern New Mexico University in a four-game series scheduled to begin Friday.