AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's baseball controlled the series against Cameron, and Aggies' starter Josh Hernandez struggled with his control on the mound in a 10-4 Hilltopper victory for the four-game sweep.
CARSON BLAKELEY started on the mound for St. Edward's and gifted Cameron a run in the first. Diego Villarreal hit a leadoff single through the right side, and two outs later, Blakeley walked two batters and hit another to surrender a run.
Hernandez retired St. Edward's in order in the first inning but walked the first four hitters in the second. Cameron turned to Reece Milam out of the bullpen, who walked
DAWSON STUTZ to plate a second run, then surrendered a third run on a wild pitch.
GRAYSON THALLMAN drove in
NICHOLAS ANDERSON with a groundout to shortstop, and
TRAVIS CHESTNUT hit an RBI single down the left-field line for the 5-1 lead.
Nolan Archuleta started the third for Cameron, walked two of the first three hitters, advanced
CARLO FIGUEROA to third on a wild pitch, and then surrendered a run on a double steal with runners on first and third. Thallman added another run with an infield single for the 7-1 lead.
Blakely walked Villarreal to open the fifth, then moved him to second with a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. After Kody Bigford flied out to left, Lance Barnett singled through the left side, and Zane Roos scored Villarreal with a sacrifice fly.
MARCO BARRERA hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, stole two bases, and scored on Stutz's single to right field for the 8-2 lead.
BRENNAN BERDON replaced Blakeley to start the sixth and struck out Collin Godfrey in a scoreless inning for Cameron. Berdon surrendered a one-out walk to Barnett in the seventh, then a Roos single, and allowed a run on a wild pitch. Godfrey drove in another run with an RBI single through the right side.
Tate hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh, prompting Cameron to replace Archuleta with Cooper Weatherly.
NICHOLAS ANDERSON greeted Weatherly with a two-run blast, taking advantage of the only moment the wind stopped blowing the entire game.
St. Edward's got a look at
FINN MIGNEREY in the eighth and
NIC LUNA in the ninth, and both pitchers delivered scoreless innings to close the game.
Anderson scored twice and drove in three RBI with a home run and walk. Stutz got his first look in the lineup as the designated hitter, hitting 1-for-2 with two walks, two RBI, and a run scored. Thallman was solid out of the nine spot, hitting 2-for-4 with two RBI.
St. Edward's improves to 9-3 with the series sweep. The Hilltoppers will play their first non-conference game on Tuesday, hosting Huston-Tillotson at 1:00 p.m.
