ARLINGTON, Texas - Down 7-5 with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, freshman outfielder Cole Henry crushed a 1-1 fastball on a line over the right field fence, giving the Rams (3-7-1, 2-3 in conference) a 9-7 victory and a split in Sunday’s doubleheader with RRAC foe Bacone College. The Warriors won the first game of the afternoon 5-2.

The Rams took the early lead in the nightcap, posting single runs in each of the first three innings. Andy Hughes doubled and scored in the first, Derek Armstrong doubled home a run in the second, and Hughes belted his first homer of the season in the third as the Rams moved out in front 3-0.

Starter Brad Shiller, who kept the Warriors off the board through three innings, ran into a bit of trouble after that. With one run already home in the top of the fourth, he seemed to temporarily lose control of his breaking ball, and two walks helped Bacone loaded the bases with just one out. Shiller struck out the next batter, and should have gotten out of the inning two pitches later, but a harmless pop-up fell untouched just inside the first-base line, allowing two more runs to score. The next batter doubled, plating two more runs, and Bacone took a 5-3 lead.

An inning later, with the score still 5-3, Matt Mull came on in relief of Shiller, and was greeted with a first-pitch home run off the bat of Mitch Miller. He settled down, though, to retire the side with no further damage done.

Neither team scored again until the bottom of the sixth, when the Rams put two on the board thanks to Matt Putman’s pinch-hit single.

Bacone increased their lead to 7-5 in the top of the seventh, when designated hitter Nate Husser belted a deep opposite field home run off of Rams’ reliever Shea Harrison.

Desperately needing base runners, Aaron Ellis took several pitches, and managed to draw a walk leading off the bottom of the seventh. Andy Hughes then took an 0-2 inside fastball to right for a single, and Trey Combs followed with a walk to load the bases for Wesleyan with nobody out. Things looked promising for the Rams, but Eric Casias struck out swinging on a high fastball for out number one, and Travis Clifford grounded into a 3-2 fielder’s choice for the second out, and the Rams were down to their last chance as Henry came to the plate. His blast, on a belt-high fastball that appeared to cut back over the inner half of the plate, didn’t look like the typical home run. It was just a line drive that happened to stay aloft just long enough to clear the right-centerfield fence.

Shea Harrison picked up his first win of the season for the Rams.

In game one, first baseman Trey Combs provided all of the offense for Wesleyan, hitting solo home runs in the second and fifth innings as the Rams fell to Bacone 5-2. Shortstop Aaron Ellis had the only other hit for the Rams, a soft liner in the seventh. Starter Andy Hughes picked up the loss, allowing three runs (1 earned) on seven hits in five innings of work.

The Rams now stand at 3-7-1 on the year, 2-3 in Red River Conference play.

Notes: Since it was uncovered during the bad weather earlier in the week, LaGrave Field was unplayable this weekend, so Sunday’s games were played at Martin High School in Arlington. The two teams square off again on Monday at 1 PM for the final game of the series. That game will be played at Southwest High School in Fort Worth.

Batteries: BC-Florez and Neale W-Florez TW-Hughes, Manning (6), Wilson (7) and Putman L-Hughes 2B BC-Pena; TW-none 3B BC-none; TW-none HR BC-none; TW-Combs 2

Batteries: BC-Howard, Taylor(6), and Sullivan L-Taylor TW-Shiller, Mull (5), Harrison (6) and Combs W-Harrison 2B BC-Sakewicz, Cormier; TW-Hughes, Armstrong, Clifford, Combs 3B BC-none; TW-none HR BC-Miller, Husser; TW-Hughes, Henry