The UTPB baseball team held on for as long as it could against No. 10 Angelo State in their Lone Star Conference matchup Friday at Roden Field.
UTPB neutralized the potent Rams offense through the game’s first two innings, but struggled to maintain the defensive showing as Angelo State secured an 18-2 victory in seven innings.
“You can’t give them any wiggle room,” UTPB coach Brian Reinke said. “They’re going to run, they’re going to hit, they’re going to do all of that stuff because they’re a good team.
“They’ve proven it all year long, they’re at the top of the conference and their offensive stats are scary.”
Angelo State came into the contest as one of the top offensive teams in the conference, recording 494 hits and 431 runs.
Despite that, the Falcons were able to keep things close early, surrendering one run and one hit through the game’s first two innings.
The Rams showed how quickly they can change a game’s complexion in the top of the third, bringing in four runners off five hits to take a 5-0 lead.
Austin Beck scored off a wild pitch in the top of the fourth to extend the Angelo State advantage before UTPB responded.
The Falcons seemed to get things going in the bottom of the inning when Oswaldo Godina sent a 2-run homer over the left field barrier, cutting the deficit to 6-2.
“At the time of the game when it was 6-0, to hit a 2-run home run to get to 6-2, you get closer and have a chance to do something right there,” Reinke said. “We just didn’t do it, we didn’t come through.”
Success at the plate dissipated for the Falcons after the scoring play, seeing them put up two hits the rest of the contest.
Angelo State didn’t slow down in that stretch, connecting for 10 hits and scoring 12 runs from the fifth to seventh innings.
The Rams put the game completely out of reach with five runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by a base-clearing triple to left field from Justin Harris to drive in three runs.
A line drive single to left field from Aaron Walters drove in the game’s final two runs before the Rams held UTPB off with a groundout at first and a 4-6-3 double play.
UTPB turned to its bullpen multiple times in the game, giving six pitchers time on the mound.
Reinke said his pitchers spent a large part of the game pitching from behind, which led to most of the struggles they faced.
“The key to college baseball is getting ahead on the mound, we didn’t do that today and we paid for it,” Reinke said.
The teams will continue their series with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at Roden Field.
Angelo State (37-10 overall, 35-10) is first in the conference standings, while UTPB (12-34, 11-34) sits in 13th.
Reinke said it will be important for his team to get a strong pitching performance early to avoid repeating their issues against the Rams.
“You’re as good as your next starting guy on the mound, this is over and we can be fresh tomorrow,” Reinke said. “Just make sure that we get a good start in Game 1 tomorrow and move on from there.”
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