STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Baseball got cold offensively over the last six innings against the Aggies, seeing their 5-2 lead flip to a 9-5 loss Wednesday afternoon.
Tarleton State (20-17, 10-8 WAC) dropped Game 2 to New Mexico State (17-19, 4-8 C-USA) with a 9-5 final on Education Day at the Tarleton Baseball Complex.
The Texans led through the first four innings but a four-run inning in the fifth for the Aggies took the reins and shut down the home team permanently.
Devon Patel started on the mound for the Purple and White with 3.0 innings on the bump, giving up two runs on two hits, no walks and three strikeouts. Freshman
Braydon Risley (1-4) was tagged with the loss after giving up the go-ahead run in the fifth. He went 0.1 IP, allowing a double that scored three, charged with an earned run.
Connor Wylde got the start for the visitors with 2.1 innings on the mound, giving up five runs on two hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Kade Benavidez earned his first win with a 2.2 inning outing, giving up no runs on three hits, no walks and a pair of strikeouts. Saul Soto earned his first save with 1.1 innings pitched, giving up no runs on no hits, no walks and a couple of strikeouts.
The Texans ended the afternoon with five runs on six hits with a pair of doubles from
Tyson Drake and
Trace Morrison. Drake led the team in stole bases with three while
Cole Miears and
Austin Russell each contributed one apiece.
The Aggies compiled nine runs on eight hits with a pair of homers from Keith Jones ll and a couple of doubles.
Tarleton State drew first blood with three runs in the opening inning. With one out on the board, Drake walked and stole a bag. Miears joined the base path and the pair stole another couple of bases to see both runners in scoring position. A groundout from
Cris Enriquez made room for Drake to come home and tally the first run. Russell singled to bring Miears home and stole second. An RBI double from Morrison brought in the final run of the inning to give the home team a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third, the Aggies perked up as a pair of runs came in on a two-run home run to make it a one-run ball game at 3-2.
The Texans got back to business at the plate with a couple of runs to maintain the lead. Drake walked and stole second and Miears joined on a walk. Russell singled to bring in the fourth run. With two outs recorded,
Hunter Smith came through with an RBI single to put Miears back across the plate for a three-run lead at 5-2.
The top of the fifth was a game changer for the visitors with four runs scored to take the lead. A pair of runners took a free 90 and a single up the middle brought in a run. A walk followed by a double brought in another trio of runs to put the Aggies up by one at 6-5.
New Mexico State continued to grind away at the plate with another pair of runs in the sixth inning. With two outs on the board, the three-hole for the inning reached on an error and stole second. A walk followed by a single to right field brought in the lead runner for the seventh run. The second single of the inning tallied the final run of the inning to make the score 8-5 for the visitors.
In the top of the ninth another homer from Jones brought in the last run of the game and a scoreless bottom of the inning sealed the deal for New Mexico State with a 9-5 final.
The Purple and White will be back in action at home beginning Friday for a weekend series against UTRGV.
