Baseball Sweeps Arkansas Baptist

Article Courtesy of Doc Smith, Tyler Morning Telegraph

The Tyler Junior College Apaches swept a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Mike Carter Field, beating Arkansas Baptist College 8-2, and 2-0 in two seven-inning affairs.

The Apaches (18-8) will next go on the road to play Concordia University Monday in Austin. The Apaches then return to the friendly confines of Mike Carter Field for a weekend series with LSU-Eunice, beginning on Friday.

"Overall this weekend was big for us. Coming in on a three-game skid, we had a great Saturday afternoon crowd," said TJC head coach Doug Wrenn. "And we need to keep playing well with Concordia on Monday and then a big series next weekend against LSU-Eunice."

The LSU-Eunice series will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Arkansas Baptist drops to 18-8 with the two losses. Arkansas Baptist is an NJCAA Division I program which competes in the Bi-State Conference. Arkansas Baptist will remain on the road and play in Battlesville, Ark., Sunday against Lyon College.

Game 1

In the opening game, TJC got four runs in the second and four runs in the sixth en route to an 8-2 win.

Apache catcher Connor Wrye slapped two doubles, and scored twice which Wren said were key to the offense.

"No doubt about it, Connor's (Wrye) two doubles got us started in our two big innings and we have talked all year about winning the big inning war and we did that in the first game," Wrenn said. "Connor has had some good at-bats and has come through when we needed him."

Wrye's first extra-base hit started a second inning rally. Blaise Warrick followed with a walk, Luke Neeley singled and Justin Monsour drew a bases-loaded walk to get TJC on the board.

Hunter Sutton then delivered an RBI single to left as the Apaches built a 4-0 lead.

The Buffaloes answered back with two runs in the sixth inning. Corky Welch doubled and Allen Smith reached base on the lone Apache error of the game, scoring Welch. Two batters later, Kenny Cummings slapped an RBI-single to plate Smith and slice TJC's advantage in half, 4-2.

Wrye started the sixth-inning for TJC with another double, followed by a Connor McMullin single to score him. Neely came through with a single, Monsour drew a walk just before Sutton blasted a two-run triple to make it 8-2.

Jacob French, a sophomore from Kingwood, drew the start and struck out six and walked two before giving way to relievers Nick Johnson (Georgetown) and Kevin Williams (League City).

"French came out and threw another quality start for us and then when they started coming around, Nick Johnson did a great job of stopping the bleeding," Wrenn said. "Then Kevin (Williams) came on in the seventh and just overpowered them."

Game 2

The Apaches scored single runs in the first and second, and allowed the pitching of Colton Burleson to do the work from there as the Apaches took the 2-0 final.

Burleson, a sophomore from Jasper, scattered six hits in a complete-game effort while striking out nine.

When Arkansas Baptist threatened to end Burleson's scoreless streak, it was derailed by the arm of Hunter Sutton. The sophomore outfielder from Forney gunned down Tyler Nelson at home plate.

TJC pitching coach Travis Chick was elated with the effort of Burleson.

"Colton did what we asked of him which was throw strikes and get ahead of the batters," said Chick, a former Seattle Mariners pitcher from Whitehouse. "He had great location on his pitches, and did a great job of mixing up his pitches and changing speeds."

Anthony Soriano had two hits for the Apaches in the finale. Monsour added a hit and scored a run. Connor McMullin blasted an RBI-double to plate Richard Tordsen after he had reached on a free pass to account for the scoring in the game.

Tyler Junior College 8, Arkansas Baptist College 2

Arkansas Baptist 000 002 0 - 2 7 1

Tyler Junior College 040 004 x - 8 6 1

Brandon Surdan, Dylan Bowie, (4), Cody Stringer (6) and Patrick Castleberry. Jacob French, Nick Johnson (6), Kevin Williams and Connor Wrye. 2B – AB: Corky Welch. TJC: Connor Wrye 2. 3B – TJC: Hunter Sutton. DP – AB 1. TJC 1. LOB – AB: 4. TJC: 6.

Tyler Junior College 2, Arkansas Baptist 0

Arkansas Baptist 000 000 0 - 0 7 1

Tyler Junior College 110 000 x - 2 6 0

Jace Powers and Patrick Castleberry; Colton Burleson and Connor Wrye. W – Burleson. L – Powers. 2B – TJC: Connor McMullin. SB – TJC: Neely. DP – AB 1, TJC 1. LOB – AB 5. TJC 5.