LAREDO, Texas – The Rogers State baseball team claimed a 6-5 victory in game two earning a split on the day after dropping game one 13-4 at Texas A&M International Friday in Heartland Conference action from Jorge Haynes Field.
After registering only four hits in game one, the Hillcats belted 12 in the game two victory getting hits from seven different players.
Game One
The Hillcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third as Alex Cochran drew a lead-off walk before advancing to third on a single from Chase Knott. Cochran scored on a double steal attempt getting RSU on the scoreboard. Nick Malter added an RBI double plating Blake Gipson, who reached first base on a strikeout, wild pitch with two outs. The Hillcats got two of their three hits in the inning off TAMIU starter Jeremy Gonzalez.
The Dustdevils quickly answered taking a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning on one swing of the bat as Nathan Halas hit a three-run home run.
RSU evened the score 3-3 with J.P. Seifried scoring an unearned run on a Cochran grounder in the fourth but TAMIU took control of the game from that point scoring 10 unanswered runs. Gordie Taggart and Jake Cardoza hit back-to-back home runs off Hillcats' starting pitcher Jesse Baird opening the scoring spree in a five-run fourth for the Dustdevils.
TAMIU secured the series-opening victory 13-4 backed by Gonzalez's five innings of three-hit work. It marked the first Heartland Conference win of the season for the Dustdevils who entered the weekend 0-6.
Game Two
RSU earned a split on the day holding off a late rally for a 6-5 victory in the Friday finale finding some offense pounding 12 hits in the nine-inning decision.
Game two began similar to the opener as RSU opened the scoring scratching a single run across in the third. Hamilton Hernandez led the inning with a sharp single and promptly stole second base before scoring on a Cochran ground out.
The Hillcat lead stretched to 3-0 in the fourth highlighted by an RBI triple from Gipson that brought home Caleb Kohlmeyer. Gipson scored on the next play with Malter hitting a sacrifice fly.
TAMIU finally broke through on RSU starter Kyle Duncan in the bottom of the fifth as Andrew Arteaga provided an RBI double getting the Dustdevils on the scoreboard trailing 3-1.
Cochran drove in Hernandez with a single in the seventh as RSU added to its lead 4-1 before TAMIU cut into the deficit getting two back in the bottom half of the inning on three hits. T.J Law replaced Duncan for the Hillcats to close the frame securing the final two outs.
Law got a much-needed cushion from his offense as RSU came right back scoring twice in the eighth belting three hits, all singles, moving in front 6-3. The Dustdevils opened the bottom of the eighth loading the bases with three-straight singles and looked to get back into the game but Law buckled down and escaped with the lead intact stranding two runners allowing two runs as the Hillcats held on for a 6-5 victory to earn the split.
The Hillcats had seven different players record a hit in the win led by a 3-for-5 performance from Gipson while Kohlmeyer, Ryan Hendricks, and Hamilton added two apiece. Duncan got the win throwing 6.1 innings of five-hit baseball while Law picked up his first save of the season.
Rogers State (10-6, 4-4 HC) closes the weekend series with the Dustdevils Saturday at 11 a.m. Live stats are available courtesy of TAMIU at http://www.sidearmstats.com/tamiu/baseball/.
