Snyder, TX - Western Texas baseball (2-4) split their home opener against Paris College (4-1), 8-5 and 7-15.
Game 1
The Westerners ball club began their season on the road with four games at Coastal Bend College on January 24th-25th. Western Texas dropped the first two games but split on the second day and left Beeville with a 1-3 record. In their home opener, the bats started off hot with four runs in their first appearance. David Castillo singled in the teams first RBI and Gage Dorris followed with an RBI single of his own, 2-0. Easton Stewart continued the first inning with a line drive rope to right center which scored two, 4-0.
In the third, the Dragons retaliated with a little league home run that scored three, 4-3. Western Texas immediately responded with three insurance runs in the bottom of the frame. Levi Fletcher doubled in two while Jacob Caraway singled in a run, 7-3. Paris began the fourth with a run to inch within three, 7-4. Fletcher singled in the Westerners final run in the fifth to go up four, 8-4. The Dragons scored one in the eighth but went silent in the ninth for a Westerners victory, 8-5.
Fletcher had a great game at the plate as he plated three, scored once and had two knocks. Stewart recorded two hits, three RBI and scored once. Starting pitcher Ryan Hudson had a solid six frames, allowed three earned runs and struck out three. Brenan Daniel came in for 1.2 of relief, gave up one and struck out one. Tyler Spruiell closed out the game with 1.1 innings, allowed a hit and struck out two.
Game 2
The second matchup was a wild back and forth battle from the start until the end. Paris imitated Western Texas from the first game as the Dragons scored four in the first, 0-4. The Westerners answered back strongly in their first opportunity with a leadoff home run from Ben Blanchard, 1-0. A batter later, Garret Rester singled and brought up Castillo. The third baseman launched a no doubt two run home run over the left center wall to put his team within one, 3-4.
In the second, the Westerners took the lead from yet another two run home run from Cavin Fuentes, 5-4. The Dragons flipped the script in the fourth from a two run triple, 5-6. Western Texas tied it in the fourth from an error on a pick off attempt, 6-6. Paris regained the lead in the fifth and grew their advantage in the sixth, 6-10. Though the Westerners tallied one final run, the Dragons extended their lead and won the second matchup, 7-15.
Right fielder Rester led the team with three hits and scored twice. Castillo, Blanchard and Fuentes all went deep as Camacho legged out a triple. Marcus Sanders pitched 4.0 frames, struck out seven and only allowed two free passes. Reagan Chomel, John Hernandez, Haden Johnson and Sebastian Cabral came in for an inning of relief.
UP NEXT: Western Texas College will stay home for their double-header matchup against Odessa College on Sunday, February 2nd. First pitch will be at 12pm.
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