March 30, 2008
CU sweeps ECU back to Ada
LAWTON, Oklahoma (March 30) – For the second time in three weekends, Aggie fans can break out their brooms for the Cameron baseball team. Today at McCord Field, the Aggie baseballers (21-12, 15-10 LSC) completed their four-game, weekend sweep of the East Central University Tigers (14-22, 11-14 LSC). Cameron won the first game of the series on Friday, swept yesterday’s double-header, and finished off the series with this afternoon’s victory. This weekend’s baseball action saw just about everything from a walk-off double, to a near-ejection by one head coach, to even a complete game victory.
“We are doing what it takes to win. I wish the games weren’t so back and forth; it would be nice to be ahead every inning but that’s baseball and that’s what you get,” Head Coach Todd Holland said. “If we could get some more consistency that would be better, but the bottom line is that we’re winning.”
In Friday’s first game, the Aggies defeated the Tigers 5-1 thanks to stellar pitching by junior pitcher Brad Bichel. Bichel went the distance for the complete game victory after only allowing 1 run on 5 hits. He also struck out 8 batters and only threw 1 walk.
In the game CU recorded 10 hits and matched ECU with 1 error. The Tigers started the game with an early 1-0 lead, which they kept until the bottom of the fifth inning. An RBI double by senior OF Tyson Moll tied the game for Cameron at 1-1, and a two-run homerun by senior first-baseman Michael Levi in the bottom of the sixth inning gave CU the lead and eventually the win. The Aggies added another two-spot in the bottom of the seventh inning, but enough damage had already been done.
Yesterday’s games at McCord Field saw some incredible action. In the first game of the double-header the Aggies got off to a great start and held a 3-0 lead after their very first at-bats. A triple in the second at-bat of the game by senior SS Charlie Calamia gave CU their first run, and their second of 15 total hits. CU and ECU once again both recorded 1 total error.
Cameron held a 4-0 lead going into the top of the sixth inning when the Tigers decided to make it interesting with 3 runs of their own. Just as ECU began to get back in the ballgame, CU scored 5 runs over the next three innings to win the game 9-6. Junior pitcher Justin Kirkpatrick recorded the victory after starting the game and going 6.0 strong innings with only 5 runs, 4 earned, on 6 hits. He also walked and struck out 4 batters.
In the second game of the double-dip, the Aggies continued to put runs on the board and held a 1-0 lead after the very first inning. ECU got on a roll in the top of the third with 4 runs, 3 of which came before an out was recorded. The score was eventually 5-4 as the teams headed to the bottom of the seventh and final inning, and that’s when things got a bit crazy.
With two outs in the inning and Cameron staring at only their second loss in the last ten games, sophomore 3B Blake Watson singled to keep the Aggies alive. Red-shirt freshman Wes Wolverton was brought in to pinch-run for Watson, and on the next at-bat junior RF Chris Caves sent a double rocketing into left field. As Wolverton, the tying run, was rounding third base he tripped over the bag and was forced to retreat to third base with Cameron still down 5-4.
Cameron was still looking defeat right in the face, down a run with two runners in scoring position. Senior 1B/DH Josh Mathiesen was the next batter, and after fouling the first few pitches away he doubled to right field to score the tying and game-winning runs. CU won the game in dramatic fashion, 6-5.
“This season I am always confident with every guy we send to the plate,” Coach Holland said. “We always have a chance to get some runs.”
In today’s fourth and final game, it looked early on as if ECU would record their first win of the weekend. The Tigers put runs on the board early, and actually scored runs in seven of the nine innings today. East Central held a 4-0 lead after the first two and a half innings, but it did not last long. Cameron put up 13 runs over the next four innings, as East Central countered with 9 runs of their own.
“Being able to come from behind is what it takes to get to Lone Star Conference postseason tournament,” Coach Holland said. “It’s not how good you look, it’s all about your wins and losses. We were down in two straight games and came back. A lot of teams will go down in a game and it’s hard for them to come back, but we never feel like we are out of a game.”
The game was tied 13-13 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. Cameron scored 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth and that was all they’d need. Senior pitcher Bevan Anderson, who was brought into pitch in the seventh inning, shut the door in the top of the ninth to record the victory, his sixth of the season. Cameron won 16-13.
Nearly every player on both the CU and ECU rosters were used today, with Cameron going through 4 pitchers and East Central using 6 hurlers. The Aggies recorded an astounding 23 hits in the game, but did commit 3 errors. The Tigers on the other hand recorded 14 hits and 2 errors.
“We always hope to sweep at home and split on the road, and we have done a good job sweeping our last two home opponents,” Coach Holland said. “To get to the (Lone Star) conference tournament you need to take care of business and make your plays, and we are doing that.”
Cameron has now won 11 of their last 12 games and has swept their last 2 home series. The team stays home this Tuesday, April 1, to host the Drovers of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma at 2:00pm at McCord Field. The teams will play a single, nine-inning game. The team then travels to Canyon, Texas, next weekend to take on West Texas A&M in a four-game, weekend series.
“Next weekend we go to WT and you never can tell what’s going to happen between two LSC teams,” Coach Holland said. “You can’t ever take anyone for granted.”