AUSTIN, Texas – Behind solid all-around pitching performances and timely hitting, the Concordia Texas baseball team grabbed a pair of victories over Belhaven on Friday at Tornado Field.
The Tornados picked up a narrow 3-2 comeback win in game one before a dominating 7-0 effort in game two to move to 23-9 overall and 9-5 in American Southwest Conference play.
Matthew Williams was spectacular on the mound in the game one victory for the Tornados. Williams (8-1) tossed all 7.0 innings, giving up five hits and just one earned run while striking out five. The junior from Austin, Texas, threw just 69 pitches in the contest to earn the win.
Bret Leiferman started the scoring for CTX in the first inning when he hit an RBI groundout to bring home
Casen Novak.
The Blazers responded with a run in the second on an RBI groundout and took advantage of a Tornado error in the third to take a 2-1 lead.
The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth when
Reed Carlton lifted a sacrifice fly to bring home pinch runner
Jayden Hernandez. With a runner on third and one away,
Carson Cox then brought home Leiferman for the game-winning run on an RBI single up the middle.
Game two of the doubleheader was dominated by three separate Concordia pitchers who gave up a total of just two hits over 9.0 quality innings.
Taylor Barksdale (5-1) earned the victory on the mound after not giving up a hit and fanning five over 5.0 innings. Barksdale, a junior out of Burnet, Texas, has now given up just three runs over his last 21.2 innings and lowered his season ERA to 2.52.
Daniel Lewis continued the no-hitter into the seventh before eventually giving up a single through the left side with one away in the inning. Lewis did not give up anything else, however, tossing 2.0 frames and allowing no runs on just the one hit.
Noah Pendergrass closed out the contest tossing the final 2.0 innings and allowing a run while punching out two.
Cox, the hero in game one, started game two with a bang as well by driving in
Tanner Gibson for the first run of the contest in the third. Carlton then followed suit by ripping an RBI single up the middle to score both
Casen Novak and Cox to make the score 3-0.
The Tornados broke the game open in the seventh with a four-run flurry. After Leiferman started the scoring in the inning with a two-RBI single, Jacob Gywnne brought home the sixth run on a bases loaded walk and
Jacob Stegent tacked on another with an RBI fielder's choice.
Cox, a senior from Cotulla, Texas, finished the doubleheader 3-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored while extending his hitting streak to five games.
In total, over 16.0 innings the CTX pitching staff allowed just two runs (one earned), seven hits and struck out 14.
The series concludes on Saturday as the Tornados will look to complete the sweep with a game beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Tornado Field.
