NORTH DIVISION TITLE IN JEOPARDY
April 21, 2007

Box Score - Game One

Box Score - Game Two

FORT WORTH, TX:  The 11th ranked Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (33-8, 13-2 RRAC) dropped both ends of a doubleheader against conference rival Bacone College (32-18, 12-2) on Saturday, putting their Red River Athletic Conference North Division championship in doubt.  Bacone took a game one thriller 3-2 and romped 13-3 in game two; however, the Rams still hold a half-game lead on the Warriors in the RRAC standings.

Texas Wesleyan will now await the result of a makeup game between Bacone and College of the Southwest, which has yet to be rescheduled.  If Bacone wins that game, the Warriors would win the division.  The Rams need a Mustangs win to maintain their lead.  The game may also hold significance for a CSW team that is battling Northwood for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.

Game one was a terrific game that went down to the final pitch.  The Warriors loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, but Ryan Riddle shut the door and retired 17 of the next 19 hitters he faced.

The Rams turned three walks into a two run lead in the second inning.  The Warriors finally broke through against Riddle with a two-out RBI double by Blake Kastl in the sixth inning.  Daniel Arterberry then poked a single through the right side to plate Kastl with the tying run.

In the seventh, the Warriors plated the go ahead run when Ryan Downs floated an RBI single to right against Hayden Lackey.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rams put the tying run on third and the winning run at second with two outs and Josh Vander Hey at the plate.  Vander Hey smashed a line drive up the middle that would have plated two, but Bacone’s second baseman Joel Torres made a diving catch to end the game.

Lackey (1-1) suffered the loss after allowing a run on three hits in 1.1 innings of work.

In game two, the Rams scored an unearned run to tie the game at one in the second inning.  After the Warriors used a Texas Wesleyan error to plate three runs in the third, the Rams pulled within one with RBI from Vander Hey and Ryan Jacobi in the bottom of the inning.

Four runs including a two-run homer from Scott Tompkins in the fourth gave Bacone a comfortable 8-3 margin.  The Warriors added another homerun from Tompkins in the sixth and four more runs in the seventh to pull away for the 13-3 win.

Caleb Thomas fell to 9-2 on the year after allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits in three innings pitched.

The Rams return to action on Monday when they host East Texas Baptist in a doubleheader at LaGrave Field.  Game one is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m.