The baseball team won two out of three contests to earn the series victory over Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) this weekend. The Saints improve to 17-10 overall and 9-3 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). The Eagles drop to 10-13 overall and 7-5 in RRAC play.

Head Coach Matt Piker said, “The walk-off win in the first game was great. The team stayed in the fight and did a lot of things that we talk about doing. The base running errors impacted the game in different ways. Like I’ve said before, I think more games are lost than they are won.”

History
The Saints were 11-12 against the Eagles prior to the series.

Game one
The Saints won an exciting first game of the series on March 10. Texarkana took an early lead in the first inning and then added another run in the fifth frame. The Saints tied the game in the sixth inning with two runs. Francisco Martinez and Diego Zuniga both singled to bring in one run each. Jackson Kalisky followed in the following inning with a sacrifice fly to score Jimmy Valle. The Eagles responded in the top of the ninth inning. They scored a run when the Saints were one out away from victory. Despite losing the lead, the Saints didn’t falter. Jacob Montejano won the game for the Saints in the bottom of the ninth inning with a clutch two-out double. Devin Benavides earned the win in relief after going less than a full inning with two strikeouts. Joshua Mendez started on the mound and allowed only two earned runs with seven strikeouts in seven innings. Tyler Vivier, Montejano and Martinez all had a multi-hit game.

Game two
The Saints offense exploded in game two. They totaled seven runs on 10 hits while limiting the Eagles to only four hits. Alec Martinez started on the mound and took the win with four strikeouts in four innings. John B. Ortega II earned the save after pitching three innings also with four strikeouts. Noah Rodriguez put the Saints in the lead in the second inning when he scored on a wild pitch. The Saints put the game away in the sixth inning when they totaled six runs. Vivier brought in two runs with a single and Caimyn Holiday followed with a single as well to score one run. Montejano and Martinez both doubled in the inning to bring in runs. The Saints won 7-0 and secured a series victory heading into game three.

Game three
The programs totaled 35 hits in the series finale with the Eagles winning a wild 15-11 game. The Eagles led 7-3 after the second inning, but the Saints added three runs in the third inning. Texarkana scored two more runs over the next few innings and led 9-6 after eight complete frames. The Saints forced extra innings after tying the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. Kalisky doubled to score Montejano and Holiday, which cut the Eagles advantage to one run. Martinez came up big again and doubled to bring Kalisky home. Texarkana took a two-run lead in the top of the tenth inning. OLLU refused to bow out yet again. Kalisky hit a sac fly to score one run and Martinez singled to score Holiday. Like the inning before, the Eagles put up more runs. They brought home four batters to take the eventual winning 15-11 lead. Kalisky started on the mound and the Saints used seven relief pitchers.

Up next
The Saints play at Texas Lutheran University on Tuesday at 6 p.m.