Drue Watkins
Sports Editor
On Feb. 3, the Cameron baseball team finished out their opening weekend with a home-and-home series against the Southwestern Oklahoma State (SWOSU) Bulldogs.
In the first game of the day, the Aggies fell 4-6, but later that night, they rebounded in a shootout win, 11-10.
Despite the two wins over the weekend, Cameron head coach Brady Huston said the team still has things to improve upon.
“The team, as a whole, made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “It was probably one of the worst opening weekends I’ve seen, and if we had just cut down on the simple mistakes, we could’ve swept the weekend.”
The first game saw Cameron junior infielder Trey Bigford score one run and one RBI off two hits. Sophomore infielder Luke Hughes also hit an RBI, and junior outfielder Colton Adams scored one run and an RBI.
The early game started slow for the Aggies.
SWOSU surged to a quick 2-0 lead after hitting a home run in the bottom of the second inning. However, the Aggies would retaliate in the top of the fourth inning by scoring three unanswered runs to make it 3-2.
Sophomore Kameron Good scored one run with a sacrifice bunt, while Adams and Bigford each scored from doubles.
The fifth inning went scoreless, but back-to-back errors by Aggie senior pitcher Skyler Henderson allowed the Bulldogs to score two points, putting SWOSU back ahead, 4-3.
Huston said mental mistakes cost the team during the game and caused Cameron to lose in the end.
“Out of all the things we worked on,” he said, “only about ten percent was executed properly.”
In the seventh inning, both teams managed to score a single run. For the Aggies, Hughes tied the score up at four after hitting an RBI, but that would be the final point scored by Cameron in the game.
A Bulldog RBI-triple saw that tie slip away, and a final run scored in the bottom of the eighth inning solidified SWOSU’s victory, 4-6.
Huston said that after the first game, he let the team know what needed to be done to win the second match.
“We just had to play the way we play,” he said. “We aren’t focused on what the other team is doing or matching, and after that first game, we returned to what we’ve been working on. The philosophy needed to be stuck to, and we couldn’t step out of that framework.”
Aggie senior catcher Cole Williams finished the game with two stolen bases, and senior Reid Garrett pitched five innings, earning eight total strikeouts.
Huston said that Williams brings his experience as a senior to the field.
“He [Williams] has seen it all,” he said. “As a player, he has been around for the past four years and knows what he’s doing. The maturity he brings is big, and with the rest of the team being less experienced, it helps.”
The second game of the day became an offensive slugfest as the Aggies escaped with a close victory, 11-10.
The Aggies were out-hit, however, putting up 11 compared to the Bulldogs’ 13 total. SWOSU also committed fewer errors with only one compared to Cameron’s three.
Aggie senior infielder Micah Kaaukai and Williams each put up three hits, and both players also doubled during the game. Junior Briton Schiewe recorded two RBI’s, with Williams doing the same, showcasing his consistency as a player.
The first inning exploded with offensive play; the Aggies put up two runs and the Bulldogs secured three. The second inning saw both teams score two-a-piece, leaving SWOSU with a 5-4 edge leading into the third inning.
The score only increased from there, as the Bulldogs tacked on four more runs in the third and fourth innings, increasing their lead to 9-4. The four runs were thanks to a two-run home run and two RBI doubles.
Huston said that facing serious adversity was the key to winning the game, and without the team sticking to what they know, there was no way they could have pulled it off.
However, with the Aggies down by five runs and in need of a comeback, the team rose to the occasion, through the adversity.
Cameron struck back with two runs in the fifth inning, and then with five more in the sixth inning.
Huston said the team must learn to work together, and the beginning of the season is always tough.
“There were some flashes of it [chemistry] being built,” he said. “This weekend was the first time the majority of the team has played together, and with it being such a thin group, they’ve got to get used to working together and smoothing it up.”
As the Aggies began their comeback, Williams started the scoring with two RBI singles, while Bigford then scored two runs on an error.
Schiewe ended the score-chain with an RBI single of his own, bringing the Aggies to an 11-9 lead.
The Bulldogs managed to put up one more run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but junior pitcher Sean Maher kept to his game and helped the Aggies close out with the win, 11-10.
Huston said that he was glad that they at least got that victory.
“It wasn’t done well at all,” he said, “but the team stuck to it, and we got away with one. The base running was phenomenal and a bright spot, but the best thing the team did was take two wins out of three over the weekend.”
By closing out the weekend with a win, Cameron now sits at a 2-1 overall record to begin the year.
On Feb. 9-10, the Aggies will play Texas A&M International in Laredo, Texas.