Baseball Sweeps A&M-Kingsville

February 21, 2009

WEATHERFORD, Okla. - Southwestern Oklahoma State University sent a strong indication that this version of the Bulldogs baseball team will be among the most improved in the league. SWOSU completed a four-game series sweep over defending Lone Star Conference Tournament champion Texas A&M-Kingsville Saturday in Weatherford.

The Bulldogs were 11-4 and 5-4 winners on Saturday after picking up a 12-9 victory in the resumption of a suspended game from Friday. SWOSU's overall record improved to 8-6 on the year and the Bulldogs moved to even in the LSC at 4-4. A&M-Kingsville fell to 4-7 overall and 3-5 in the league.

SWOSU will next play at home Tuesday against St. Gregory's, an NAIA opponent from Shawnee.

SWOSU scored the clincher in Saturday's final game in their last at bat. Travis Rose reached base after being hit by a pitch then advanced to third following a walk and a sacrifice. He then scored on a fielder's choice by Alex Pagan with two outs as SWOSU won 5-4.

The late-inning run allowed Ademar Betrian to pick up the win in relief. He did not allow a run while pitching the final one and one-third inning. Betrian took over for Chris Morrison who pitched well before being lifted in the eighth inning.

SWOSU had a number of stars at the plate with Nelson Espinal leading the way by collecting three hits in the game for the Bulldogs. As a team, SWOSU had 10 hits the same number as the Javelinas.

In Saturday's 11-4 game, SWOSU broke open a tight ball game with a seven-run fifth inning that was that was helped in part by a pair of errors by the Javelinas. Blake Mounce, Ty Powell and Espinal each had RBI singles in the inning as the Javelinas went through three different pitchers in order to record three outs.

Max Grocki picked up the win in relief of starter Kevin Hyde. Grocki allowed just one run through three innings of work. He allowed two hits and struck out four batters in that span.

Hyde picked up the win in the suspended game that was resumed in the bottom of the seventh tied at 9-9. Hyde pitched a scoreless final two innings and upped his record to 2-1 on the year.

Jon-Andrew Martin's one-out triple in the seventh broke the tie. Morrison added some insurance in the eighth with a RBI single that scored Espinal to put the Bulldogs in front 12-9.