The baseball team tabbed two wins over Jarvis Christian University (JCU) to take the three-game series over the weekend. The Saints improve to 20-14 overall and 12-6 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). The Bulldogs drop to 14-19 overall and 8-10 in RRAC play.

Head Coach Matt Piker commented, “Anytime you can get a series win you should be excited about it. We lost a tough game one but our men bounced back and responded to the challenge in games two and three. It’s a huge credit to their buy in. I also can’t say enough positive things about how good of a job our assistant coaches do. Those men work their tails off for our student athletes every day. Our program is blessed to have them and to have the players that we do.”

History
The Saints were 13-13 against the Bulldogs prior to the series.

Game one
The Saints fell in game one after attempting a comeback late in the contest. The Bulldogs scored the first two runs of the game with one in the first inning and another in the fourth frame. OLLU rallied in the sixth inning to put up one run on a Jacob Montejano single. The inning ended in the following at-bat when Jackson Kalisky flied out to center field with Montejano on second base. The Saints also had a chance in the final inning with runners on first and second base with two outs. Jimmy Valle pinch hit and popped up to shortstop to end the game. The Saints were downed 2-1 and Alec Martinez suffered the loss. Martinez started on the mound and gave up two earned runs with six strikeouts.

Game two
The Saints offense came to life in game two. They defeated the Bulldogs 18-1 backed by 16 hits and four home runs. OLLU scored 15 runs in the first three innings. Montejano, Kalisky, Francisco Martinez and Anthony Valle all went yard and Diego Zuniga finished with four RBIs. Martinez also tallied four RBIs after batting 3-for-3. The Saints had eight players record at least one RBI and nine players had hits. Joshua Mendez earned the win after pitching three innings with three strikeouts. Dominique Boggs pitched four innings of relief.

Game three
The Saints took the third game to win the series. They scored one run on a passed ball in the first inning and followed with another run in the third inning. Tyler Vivier scored in the seventh inning and Zuniga followed with a three-run RBI double in the seventh inning. The Saints won 6-1 behind seven hits. The Bulldogs totaled eight hits, but OLLU limited them to only one run. Javier De Alejandro earned the win after going five innings with six strikeouts. Christopher Perez and Devin Benavides pitched in relief.

Up next
The Saints play at NCAA D2 St. Mary’s University on tomorrow at 6 p.m.