Baseball wins WJCAC opener, drops series to Odessa

Amarillo College's pitching staff made a statement during their Western Junior College Athletic Conference opener over the weekend.

On the other hand, the Badger offense left more to be desired despite several highlight-worthy performances.

The result was a 3-1 series defeat at the hands of Odessa College.

Badger ace Aiden White displayed plenty of grit and trudged his way through an explosive Wranglers offense for a game one victory (7-3) on Friday in Roswell, New Mexico.

The sophomore lefty notched four strikeouts, recorded two walks, and allowed two earned runs in a six-inning stint. And arguably the most important stat – he stranded six Odessa baserunners.

"We did a good job of executing our pitching gameplan, keeping their hitters at bay," AC head coach Brandon Rains said.

AC took a 2-0 lead in the first frame of game one, propelled by back-to-back doubles byJatniel McCloud. Odess rallied for a 3-2 lead during the fourth inning before the Badgers immediately responded at the bottom of the frame.

Jaykenn Marrero hit a solo homer to leadoff the bottom of the fourth, and McCloud followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Jaxson Lindsey.

Rowin Donaldson's double and Brooks Carter's two-run homer in the sixth frame all but secured a victory.

Game two ended with one of the rarest baseball box scores one may come across. The Badgers and Wranglers scratched out 15 hits apiece, but Odessa claimed a 17-5 run-rule victory in eight innings.

The Badgers held a .286 to .214 batting average advantage with runners in scoring position during game two. Odessa's remedy – hitting four homers, which resulted in five runs crossing home plate.

Freshman Brayden Gurney recorded four strikeouts, four earned runs, and eight allowed hits during his first start of the season.

Matthew Tellez, McCloud, and Donaldson paced offensively in game two. Tellez and McCloud had a team-high three hits each, while the latter hit his third homer of the season during the first frame.

"Day one, we hit it really well, and day two, we did not hit as well. On Saturday, we had trouble managing the strike zone, and we need to be better with runners in scoring position," Rains added.

On Saturday, the Badgers were on the wrong side of a pair of tightly contested games.

Carter Williams and Odessa's Ty Manuel went toe-to-toe for a textbook game three pitcher's duel. The rookie, Williams, had a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings, while allowing two walks and four earned runs.

The lefty, Manuel, finished with 13 punchouts and no walks, leading his team to a 4-2 win.

AC scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and had an opportunity to tie the contest with two outs. A Manuel strikeout proceeded with a Badger baserunner on second.

Odessa seemingly had a game four win secured after three innings, leading 7-1. AC responded once again by scoring two runs in the fourth and three in the seventh to bring the game within one run at 7-6.

The Badgers plated a trio of runs in the seventh via a McCloud solo home run, a Tellez RBI single, and an Alex Villalobos RBI double. Tellez attempted to tie the game on the Villalobos double but was thrown out at home for the third out of the inning.

Odessa proceeded to tack on a run in the top of the ninth before AC batters were struck out in order to end the series.

During the series finale, sophomore Trent Bower – a Houston Christian University commit – struck out a career-high 10 batters across 6 1/3 innings in a middle relief role for the Badgers.

AC is tied for sixth place in the WJCAC following its 1-3 showing last weekend. The Badgers sport an 8-15 overall record heading into next weekend's road matchup vs. Midland College.

The fourth-ranked Chaps sit atop the WJCAC with a 4-0 conference mark following a sweep of Frank Phillips College last weekend.

The following is the AC state leaders for the Odessa series.

Offensive leaders

Jatniel McCloud: .538 average, 7 hits, 1 HR, 1 2B, 4 RBIs

Matthew Tellez: .533 average, 8 hits, 1 2B, 2 RBIs

Luis Gonzalez: .429 average, 6 hits, 1 2B, 4 runs

Gabe Compton: .417 average, 5 hits, 1 3B, 1 2B

Brooks Carter. 333 average, 4 hits, 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBIs

Pitching leaders

Trent Bower: 6.1 IP, 10 K, 3 BB, 2 ER, 3 H

Carter Williams: 6 IP, 10 K, 2 BB, 4 ER, 5 H

Eli Heyen: 2 IP (2 appearances), 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 H

Aiden White: 4 IP, 4 BB, 3 H, 2 ER

Tyler Holmes: 1 IP, 1 K, 1 H, 0 ER