Jacob Jardel
Sports Editor
@JJardel_Writing
Aggie baseball continued its hot start on the season, defeating William Jewell in a four-game series from Feb. 19-21 at McCord Field.
The four games fell in line with Cameron University’s homecoming festivities, and the Black and Gold gave fans more to cheer about in their sweep of the Cardinals.
Game 1
Cameron withstood a late-game rally from Jewell to seal an 8-5 win in their Friday opener.
Senior Tyler McKinzie drove in the game’s first run with a single down the left field line that brought in leadoff hitter Jonathan Reyes. He would play a factor in the next inning’s three-run outburst.
Junior Cody Bower knocked in two runs when his double to left scored Cole Williams and Nate Hale. McKinzie later singled Bower home to bring the score to 5-0 at the end of the second inning.
Neither team plated another run until the Aggies scored an additional run in the fifth off senior Brandon Wright’s RBI groundout.
The Cardinals fought back in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game at five, but Cameron answered back in the home half of frame number eight.
Junior Jorden Fields singled up the middle, allowing pinch runner Colton Adams to score an unearned run. Hale and Fields later came home on Reyes’ single.
Redshirt senior Logan Fanning (1-0) worked the last inning-plus for the victory in relief of starter Bryan Belote. He allowed one hit in the ninth before striking out the side to close the game.
Game 2
Aggie bats came alive in the first of two doubleheader games, earning CU the 16-7 win.
The Cameorn nine fell behind early after William Jewell scored two runs at the top of the first, but the Black and Gold soon took control after a four-run inning.
McKinzie came home on a Wright double to right field. Redshirt junior Cody Knight scored on a passed ball after a Hale walk. Wright and Hale eventually came around to score on Fields’ single to center.
The Aggies scored another three runs in the bottom of the second frame behind a McKinzie double and a Knight two-run homer to left. They came through with another four runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Williams hit a solo homer of his own to start the rally in the CU half of the third. Bower soon scored on a Cardinal fielding error before redshirt junior Haydon Bogard on a Knight single. Knight came home on Hale’s single to center.
William Jewell notched two more runs in the top of the fourth inning to close the gap to 11-4. However, the Black and Gold had an answer in the bottom of the inning behind the power of a Bower home run.
Cameron would score two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to pull further ahead. The Cardinals mounted a rally in the seventh, but CU shut it down to earn the win.
Codey Upton (2-0) pitched five innings of six-hit ball for the win. He allowed four runs and struck out seven.
Game 3
The Black and Gold carried the momentum from their first game into the second half of the Saturday doubleheader, run-ruling Jewell 11-1 in eight innings.
McKinzie put the first runs on the board with a two-run shot to left, bringing home Hale in the process. Neither team would score again until the bottom of the fourth inning.
Bower kicked off the scoring in the frame with a double to center, bringing home senior Russ Colgan. Bogard drove Bower in on a single to right before scoring on junior Bronson Pulgados’ single to left.
Williams scored in the fifth inning on a fielding error before both teams went quiet again in the sixth.
The Cardinals notched their only run in the top of the seventh. But Cameron had answers in the next two innings, scoring a combined five runs to clinch the victory in eight.
Senior Dirk Masters (1-0) earned his first win on the season after pitching a shutout in six innings. He allowed two hits and three walks, striking out 10.
Game 4
The Sunday finale featured a closer matchup but the same result for the Aggies who clinched a 2-1 win and the weekend series sweep.
After putting up a combined 35 runs the previous day, both teams started off scoreless at the plate through the first stages of the game. However, CU made the first score when Bogard drove in Reyes on a fifth-inning single to right.
Jewell came back in the top of the seventh to tie the game at one run apiece, but the Aggies took the lead right back when Hale scored on a throwing error from the pitcher in the bottom half of the frame to bring the score to 2-1.
Senior Javarias Banks (2-0) notched the win for the Black and Gold after seven innings of work, allowing only one run on four hits. He struck out four.
Fanning earned his third save of the season after working a one-hit ninth.
The quartet of wins moved Cameron to 11-0 on the season.
They open Lone Star Conference play with a four game series Mar. 4-6 at Texas A&M-Kingsville.