Taylor, Reid lift Eagles past Southwest in RRAC opening round
A&M-Texarkana passed its first test at the 2024 RRAC Baseball Championship on Wednesday, as the second-seed Eagles overcame (7) Southwest (NM) by a 9-6 score at the Sterlington Sports Complex.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
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3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 9 | 10 | 3 |
STERLINGTON, Louisiana — A&M-Texarkana passed its first test at the 2024 RRAC Baseball Championship on Wednesday, as the second-seed Eagles overcame (7) Southwest (NM) by a 9-6 score at the Sterlington Sports Complex.
TJ Hughes put the Eagles (23-24) in front for good with a two-run, pinch hit single in the fifth, while Blake Taylor pitched more than three innings of shutout relief to earn the win. Hunter Reid homered in the first inning, then picked up his fourth save when he retired the side in order to close out the contest.
The Eagles advance to Friday's second round to take on (3) Houston-Victoria, which topped Our Lady of the Lake in the opening round. The Jaguars are the defending tournament champions. Friday's game is scheduled for 5 pm.
Dakota Leopold got the scoring going with an RBI double in the first inning, then scored on Reid's homer – the 12th of the season for the senior and 45th of his collegiate career – to give the Eagles a 3-0 lift. The Mustangs (25-26) got a run back in the second, but Leopold quickly responded with a two-out single to make it 4-1 after two frames.
USW got to starting pitcher Dylan Cabral – who battled with command issues despite allowing just three hits over four innings – and tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth, opening the door for Taylor, who earned the win with 3.2 hitless and scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
The Mustangs would take a 6-4 lead thanks to an Eagle error that allowed two runs to score, but a bases loaded walk and Hughes' two-run double put the Eagles ahead 7-6. Jonathan Rios added a two-run single in the sixth to stretch the lead to 9-6.
In the ninth, Nathan Hunter entered the game but was quickly pulled after walking consecutive batters. Reid came in with no outs, struck out two and induced a ground ball for the final out.