By: Ramona Villegas
At 3 p.m. on April 5, 2024, at McCord Field, the Cameron University Aggie baseball
team played against the University of Texas at Tyler patrots. The Patriots won, ending the first
game of a four-game series 14-4.
The game was a slow start, with Patriot Nathan Carriere being the only one to score.
Minimal errors got both teams in an excellent position to start the second inning.
Patriot Blake LaBuda started the second inning, securing a spot on first base. Kaston
Mason followed his lead, but LaBuda was taken out at second. With the first base occupied, Kyle
Atkinson hit a home run to secure a productive second inning with a 0-3 lead. The following two
hitters got up to the plate and quickly returned to the dugout. No scoring done when it was the
Aggie’s turn to hit.
April Bourg is the mother of Carter Bourg, a fifth-year student-athlete playing in his final
season with the Aggies.
April said, “We’ve been playing baseball since he was three, so just to come out here and
watch him and see how happy he is playing makes us happy, so we enjoy watching the boys and
watching the comradery between all of them.”
In the middle of the third inning, the Patriots loaded the bases. With LaBuda getting a
single and two other Patriots scoring, the score was 5-0 in favor of the Patriots. Although the
Aggies did not score in the third inning, they made no errors. Spencer Simpson reached third
base, but the following batter struck out swinging, ending the third inning.
Lane Hutchinson was the only hitter to reach home plate during the fourth inning. At the
end of the fourth inning, the scoreboard read 6-0.
In the top of the fifth inning, Atkinson hit a double, advancing Mason to third base and
allowing LaBuda to reach home plate. This was the sole point scored by the Patriots in that
inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies sensed an opportunity for a comeback. Gabe Clyden
got a single, securing his spot on first base. Donavan Borg then grounded out to third base, but
Clyden advanced to second. Next up was powerhouse Lance Barnett, who hit a home run,
bringing both himself and Clyden home.
With no further points scored in the fifth inning, the scoreboard read 7-2, with the
Patriots still in the lead.
Going into the sixth inning, Carriere scored then Hutchinson when the bases had been
loaded, also scored in the inning. The bottom of the six held no scoring points for the Aggies.
Connor Clark was second up to bat and got hit by the pitch; advancing to first base.
Directly after, Carriere hit a double, putting Clark in scoring position. Clark scored after Ethan
Bedgoos got a hit to the shortstop.
At the bottom of the seventh, the Aggies got on base with the second batter, Clyden,
getting hit by a pitch. Then, Borg tripled and took Clyden to a scoring position. Barnett singled,
with Borg scoring the second run of the inning. With Simpson getting out and Barnett at third,
Wyatt Grant was out at first, ending the seventh inning.
Going into the top of the eighth. The patriot’s points started with Mason getting a home
run, Atkinson getting onto first, Drew Schmidt getting another home run, getting him and
Atkinson over the home base. Clark doubled, getting onto second. Carriere grounded out to the
shortstop and Clark got to third in scoring position. Then Clark ended the points with a wild
pitch. Hutchinson shot a hit to right field, but the Aggie right fielder caught it. For the Aggies,
Bigford grounded out to second base, Randy Aberouett struck out swinging, and Elijah Tolsma
hit the ball to the shortstop and was caught.
“As a team, we have to stick to the plan. Have long at-bats and try to get the starters out
of the game early. I think today we didn’t execute when runners were in scoring position. I think
that was a big part. Besides that, we’re going to keep playing hard and hope it goes our way,”
said Kody Bigford.
The Aggies did make a comeback when they won the next two games of the series, 15-12
and 9-7. However, the Patriots did get the last win with a 10-9 end. Tying the series 2-2.
For more information on the Cameron University baseball team, go to
https://cameronaggies.com/sports/baseball/schedule.