CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – Starting early on Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. to beat the weather, no. 3/5 East Texas Baptist University took the opening game of the American Southwest Conference series, 15-3, against the University of the Ozarks. ETBU is now 32-6 and 21-1 in the ASC.
ETBU belted out 17 hits as four players had two or more hits. Both
Jacob Evangelista and Michael Gallegos recorded four hits while
Brett Wagner had three hits and
Dylan Burnaman and
Hunter Rumachik two hits. Both Evangelista and Gallegos went 4-for-6. Wagner added four RBI with a home run as Evangelista and Burnaman had two RBI and
Connor Massimini, Rumachik,
Cameron French, and Gallegos added one RBI.
Jagger Neely went five innings of the nine inning game for the win moving to 9-1 on the year. He posted seven strikeouts with two earned runs on six hits.
Hayden Robichaux followed with two innings of work and two strikeouts on two hits and no runs.
Matthew Irwin worked the eighth with two strikeouts and no hits or runs and
Jackson Jones finished the ninth with one strikeout, one run, and one hit. The pitching staff had 13 strikeouts on the day.
ETBU scored eight runs in the first two innings for an 8-2 lead. Wagner opened the scoring with a two RBI single to center field as Rumachik followed with a RBI single. French then added a sac fly for a 4-0 lead. UO scored one in the bottom of the inning but ETBU added four more in the second. Burnaman singled in two runs for a 6-1 lead and Massimini doubled in a run to make it 7-1. Massimini became the eighth run of the game when a UO error happened for an 8-1 lead. UO scored their second run in the bottom of the second.
After three scoreless innings, ETBU scored seven runs in the next three innings making it 15-2. An error allowed one run in the sixth and Gallegos had a RBI single for the eight-run lead, 10-2. In the seventh, Wagner hit a two-run home run to push the lead to 10, 12-2. The eighth inning brought a two RBI double from Evangelista making it 14-2 and then a Burnaman sac fly put ETBU up, 15-2. UO earned their third run in the bottom of the ninth for the 15-3 final.
ETBU will play a double header on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. pending weather.
