BOX SCORE (.pdf)
AUSTIN, Texas – Michael Evan and
Caleb Rodriguez each hit home runs, and the second-seeded Concordia University Texas baseball team rolled to 10-2 victory over No. 6 seed East Texas Baptist in a winners' bracket contest of the American Southwest Conference Tournament Thursday at Tornado Field.
Evan belted a three-run shot, which put the Tornados (31-10) in front 4-2 in the third inning.
Rodriguez hit his first career bomb, a solo shot, in the sixth to give Concordia Texas a 9-2 advantage. The Round Rock native was 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
Josh Smith (8-0) went the distance on the mound, scattering eight hits while allowing only two runs (one earned) for his first complete game of the season. Smith also fanned six and walked a pair of batters in his 115-pitch effort (78 strikes).
The Tigers (20-21) jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the frame,
Connor Bertsch banged a triple off the wall in right center, which drove in
Luke Kress from first base.
After Rodriguez and
Cameron Cox reached on singles in the third, Evan hammered a three-run homer over the left-field wall to give CTX the lead for good.
Rodriguez extended Concordia's lead in the following panel with a two-out RBI single through the middle of the infield.
The Tornados added three more tallies in the fifth, as
Race Mellman,
Garrett Benyo and
Gareth Hutton all drove in runs.
After Rodriguez's blast in the sixth, Concordia capped the scoring in the following stanza on
Adam Ortega's RBI single through the left side of the infield.
ETBU starting pitcher Kirby Moore (5-4) was tagged with the loss. The right-hander yielded nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits in five-plus innings of work.
The Tornados will meet the winner of top-seeded Texas-Tyler and No. 4 seed LeTourneau at 4 p.m. Thursday with a spot in the championship game on the line.
