Kingsville, TX – The Angelo State Rams (16-4) were once again found victory by the way of their powerful plate presence and a strong starting performance by Trent Baker (5-1). The Javelinas actually outhit the Rams, but the tape measure played in favor of the visitors from San Angelo whose three home runs were too much for Kingsville to overcome.
TAMUK started off the game in a promising way, striking out two of the first three batters they saw and getting into the run column first in the bottom of the second inning. The third inning marked the change in tide, however, as a Jacob Finke two run blast gave the rams a lead. The homerun was Finke's first of the season and his time as a Ram. Michael Urquidi, who scored on the homerun, had reached the bases in the leadoff spot of the inning by getting hit on a 1-1 pitch.
Both teams would fail to provide run support in the fourth and fifth innings, but the Rams' bats would wake up in a big way in the sixth inning to extend the ASU lead to 5-1. Following Finke's example, Jackson Hardy would connect for his first homerun of the season, a two run bomb that he pulled to left field. Parker Bramlett also did his job at the plate in the inning by grounding out to second base, which scored Riley Peterson.
Nick Seginowich hit the team's third two run homerun of the game in the seventh inning to expand the lead even more. Jackson Hardy would then represent the teams last run of the game one inning later, scoring on an error in the eighth. After threating by putting up three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Javelinas would come up short and drop the series opener 8-5.
There were a number of impressive Ram performances on the day. At the plate, Jackson Hardy, Jacob Finke, and Nick Seginowich all hit home runs as mentioned before, and the three combined for six of the team's seven RBIs, and six of the team's nine hits.
Trent Baker was solid on the mound for five innings of work. Baker, who is coming off of an impressive home performance last week, picked up his fifth win of the season by throwing for five innings and giving up only one run on six hits. The sophomore would then be relieved by Shannon Broussard, who also pitched well in his last outing. The Baytown southpaw gave up one run in his two innings of work after struggling with his control to begin the bottom of the seventh inning, but would ultimately finish with a line of two innings pitched, one hit, and one run given up. Josh Barnett put on a lid on the game with a 1.1 inning close out, striking out three of the four hitters he faced.
The Rams look to build off of their opening performance in the doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
