No. 20 A&M-Victoria baseball splits opening day with Texas Wesleyan, Friday game cancelled
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
|
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3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 5 | 6 | 0 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 0 |
|
|
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
FORT WORTH – The No. 20-ranked Texas A&M University-Victoria baseball team opened its season with a doubleheader split on Thursday.
The Jaguars (1-1) dropped the season-opener to Texas Wesleyan, 5-4, before erupting for a 9-3 win in Game 2 at Sycamore Park.
The Game 2 victory snapped a five-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Game 1
The Jaguars struck first in the top of the first inning thanks to an RBI single by Jackson Purcell. The Moses Lake, Washington, native went on to go 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs after driving in a go-ahead run in the sixth inning to make it 4-3 for A&M-Victoria.
A&M-Victoria fell behind 3-1 in the bottom of the first inning before Trevor Berger drove in Beck Zimmerman in the fourth and Antonio Benitez plated Berger in the sixth.
Berger, making his collegiate debut, went 3-for-6 with three RBIs between the two games.
Benitez and Roberto Olguin had multi-hit performances for the Jaguars in Game 1.
Jonathan Jones suffered the loss for the Jaguars, going 5.2 innings in his season debut. The Manvel native struck out six batters.
Constendinos Demetriou struck out the only batter he faced in relief of Jones.
Game 2
Once again, A&M-Victoria struck first with Benitez coming home on a wild pitch in the first. But the Rams (1-1) answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
Berger stepped up to put the Jaguars up 3-2 in the second with a two-run single to right field to score Garrett Smith and Beck Zimmerman. Two batters later, Connor Kaiser delivered the biggest blow with a three-run home run to plate Berger and Benitez.
RBIs from Kaiser and Smith highlighted a three-run fourth inning to cap the scoring for the Jaguars.
Blane Zeplin, a Victoria native, earned the win in Game 2 after hurling five innings and allowing two runs on two hits with just two walks.
Matthew Mejia and Justin Mireles each threw an inning of relief behind Zeplin. Mejia allowed just one hit during his scoreless frame while Mireles only let up one run.
Friday's scheduled game at 11 a.m. has been cancelled. A&M-Victoria returns home for its home opener against Huston-Tillotson at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27.