AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team won both games of the doubleheader, employing some late-game magic in both, and completed the series sweep over Ozarks on Saturday.
The first game, scheduled for seven innings, turned into a nine-inning contest. After Ozarks took a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth, the Tornados walked it off in the bottom half thanks to RBIs from
Kalen Moreno and
Chris Varljen, securing a 5-4 victory.
Aaron Gomez and
Jayden Hernandez also picked up RBIs in the game, and
Nicolas Zamora picked up base knocks and scored a run in his first career start.
Jared Davenport turned in a stellar performance in relief, throwing five innings and allowing only one run on three hits. The senior struck out five and earned his first win of the season.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third, when the Tornados plated the first run. Zamora led off the frame with a single, and eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout from
Aaron Gomez. After three, CTX led 1-0.
Ozarks answered in the following inning, taking a 3-0 lead on a pair of RBI hits.
In the bottom of the fifth, Moreno and Zamora sparked a rally with back-to-back hits, and the runs came around after a UO error and an RBI groundout from Hernandez. Heading into the sixth inning, the game was tied 3-3.
Davenport continued to deal through the remaining innings, and the game remained scoreless until Ozarks broke the tie in the top of the ninth with an RBI triple.
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom half, the Tornados employed some late-game heroics. Mason Dubois led things off with a single and stole second, and
EJ Sanchez legged out an infield single to put runners at first and third with no outs. Next, Moreno delivered the sacrifice fly, tying the game at 4-4, and Varljen laced the walk-off single up the middle, scoring
Aaron San Miguel to earn the 5-4 game one victory.
Game two was another thrilling affair, as the Tornados completed a comeback effort capped off with a go-ahead RBI single from Dubois in the sixth inning.
Dubois recorded four hits in the game, bringing his total to five on the day, and
Otto Franz picked up a hit and two RBIs. Moreno also added two hits to the column, completing a 3-for-6 day at the plate.
Brady Staedtler turned in a lights-out performance from the bullpen, tossing 4.2 innings of shutout baseball with only three hits allowed, and
Steven Vejil earned his first career win after pitching the final 1.1 innings without allowing a hit.
Ozarks took a quick 2-0 lead in the game, scoring a run in each of the first two innings.
The third and fourth innings did not produce a run, but Concordia Texas put their first runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Dubois led off with a single and
Dalton Watts reached on an error, putting two runners on with no outs, and
Otto Franz drove them in after hitting to a UO error. After five innings, the score was even at 2-2.
The go-ahead run came home in the bottom of the sixth as Dubois singled home Varljen, taking a 3-2 lead thanks to clutch hitting from the two sophomores.
One runner reached in the top of the seventh, but a ground ball double play ended the game, sealing a 3-2 victory and series sweep for Concordia Texas.
With the sweep, the Tornados improve to a 9-6 record overall and in American Southwest Conference.
Concordia Texas will play their first non-conference games next, hosting Boston Umass for a four-game set at Tornado Field. The series will begin with a single game on Thursday at 6 p.m.
