| Denton Martin limited Sul Ross Staet to a pair of hits while walking one and fanning 10 in the shutout. University of Dallas athletics photo |
Sul Ross State came back in the nightcap against host University of Dallas in the 2015 season opener for both teams at Crusader Field Saturday.
The Crusaders won the opener, 3-0, but the Lobos rebounded to take the nightcap by the same score. The games were the first NCAA Division III baseball games in the nation this season.
Dallas prevailed in the first contest of the twin bill, with five different players contribute to the team's nine hits. Sophomore Alex Stack boasted the Crusader bats with a perfect 3-for-3 effort at the dish.
Senior Trevor Keele 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 reaching on a throwing error to allow senior Luciano Villanueva 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, and sophomore Avery Arnold 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.
| Emmett Crisp tagged out the Dallas runner to keep the Crusaders off the board in the second game of their season opening doubleheader. Sul Ross State athletics photo |
In the nightcap, junior right-hander Eli Gallego, who played first base in the opener, scattered three hits over eight innings in earning the Lobos' first victory of the season, improving to 1-0. Sophomore Ryan Todd pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his first save.
The Lobos broke a scoreless tie with their first runs of the season in the sixth inning of the nightcap. Senior shortstop Josh Vasquez led off with a single, moved to second on a single by junior designated hitter Connor Griffith, and both runners moved up on a fielder's choice. Freshman third baseman Chris York singled home one run, and a one out fielder's choice by junior catcher brought home another. Senior left fielder Sawyer's RBI single in the top of the ninth scored senior center fielder Turner Mattson with the third and final run.
SRSU had 11 hits in the nightcap, two each by Mattson, freshman first baseman Ryan Almager, York and Griffith. Dallas managed only three hits.
"Eli pitched really well," said Sul Ross State Head Coach Bobby Mesker. "I was hoping he could go at least six, but it shows that if you throw strikes and keep the pitch count down, you have a chance to go deep and a chance to win the game. He played first base in the first game, and that's tough to do both, kudos to him."
York made his debut a successful one. "It's not surprising," said Mesker. "He led his high school team in hitting, and if you can hit in high school, you can hit here. Their pitcher pitched well in the first game, and our timing was off, but we came back in the second game and hit pretty well."
The Lobos and Crusaders are now both 1-1. The teams will conclude their three-game series with a single game Sunday at 1:00 p.m.