Baseball earns split with Sul Ross State on Opening Day
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas baseball (1-1) team split Saturday's doubleheader against Sul Ross State University (1-1). Both affairs were decided by the same score, 3-0.
Dallas prevailed in the first contest of the twin bill, with five different players contribute to the team's nine hits. Sophomore Alex Stack (Keller, Texas) boasted the Crusader bats with a perfect 3-for-3 effort at the dish.
Senior Trevor Keele (Edgewood, Texas) also notched a multi-hit game with a pair of his in three at bats. One of the first baseman's knocks was the UD's only extra base hit counting for a double.
The Crusaders took advantage of a SRSU miscue and were aggressive forcing the issue on the basepaths. In the second inning, the home team got on the board with junior Tug McRoberts (Beaumont, Texas) reaching on a throwing error to allow senior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) to score from second base.
That sequence wasn't the only potential double play that helped Dallas plate runs. In the bottom of the fifth, the Lobos turned a twin killer, but Keele dashed around third and scored to give his team a big insurance run.
Between those hustle plays, UD doubled its advantage in the fourth with three consecutive hits from Stack, freshman Patch Healy (Plano, Texas), and sophomore Avery Arnold (McKinney, Texas) to mount a 2-0 score over the visitors. Arnold's RBI single to right center was the lone run driven in for the Navy and White.
Junior Denton Martin (1-0) made his first start on the bump going the distance in the seven inning affair. The native of Denton, Texas, limited the Red and White to a pair of hits while walking one and fanning 10 in the shutout.
Sul Ross State's Shane Sawyer notched one hit with a double and Emmett Crisp tallied the other base hit for the visitors.
Game two went in favor of the Lobos from Sul Ross State University evening the series 1-1. Dallas was outhit in this contest 11-3 and could not take advantage of four errors by SRSU.
Senior Nolan Kipp (Folsom, Calif.), junior Rene Vargas Jr. (San Antonio, Texas), and McRoberts combined for the trio of base knocks that were all singles for UD. Two of those occurred in the first pair of at bats for the Crusaders, but the heart of the order was unable to advance them.
The first five innings were quiet as sophomore Ryan Hammonds (0-1) (Cedar Hill, Texas) made his first collegiate start and hurled five solid innings of shutout baseball. The righty danced around trouble in the third and fourth frames, as the Lobos left two on base in each respective one.
SRSU finally pushed two runners past home in the sixth with three of four hitters recording a single. Chris York's liner to right field broke the deadlock and was all for Hammonds, who allowed seven hits, two runs (both earned) on a walk and two strikeouts.
Sophomore Cole Morden (Arlington, Texas) escaped the bases loaded jam with no outs and limited the damage to one inherited runner scoring. He tossed three innings with two hits given up and a walk. Fellow classmate William Marshall (Frisco, Texas) appeared on the rubber in the ninth inning striking out a pair to match his total hits allowed. He also surrendered the Lobos' final run.
Sul Ross State was guided by Eli Gallego (1-0) blanking the Crusaders through eight frames. He allowed three hits and fanned four. Ryan Todd earned his first save with a perfect ninth.
Offensively Turner Mattson, Connor Griffith, Chris York, and Ryan Almager posted two hits apiece to form a quartet of multi-hitting performances in the win for SRSU.
STAT OF THE DAY
Dallas Head Coach Joe Myers earned his first win of his collegiate career and with the University of Dallas on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Dallas will try to claim the rubber game tomorrow at 1 p.m. versus Sul Ross. Weather could postpone that contest. After that the Crusaders travel to Frisco, Texas for a neutral site meeting against Hardin-Simmons University at Dr. Pepper Ballpark on Feb. 13.