TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler split their doubleheader with Texas A&M international on Sunday afternoon and hold a 2-1 series lead heading into the final game of the series on Monday afternoon.
 
Ryan Rickett was the man who got the ball for the Patriots in game one of the doubleheader, and managed four innings before being chased from the game. Rickett gave up just one hit through two innings and added in three strikeouts.
 
The Patriots were the team to break open scoring, coming up with two runs in the bottom half of the second. A leadoff double from Jordan Gochenour was followed by a walk by Cade Watson. Kyle Hawkins dropped a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring position for Carson Cox. Cox flied out to right field, and it was deep enough to move up both runners and score the first run. With a runner on third and two outs, Tanner Roach surprised everyone with a gem of a bunt that went for an infield single and an RBI.
 
In the third inning, Rickett surrendered a walk before getting another strikeout. After a groundout and another walk, Ronnie Bailey hit a double deep into the left field corner to score two and even the score. Those two runs were followed by another run after a Mario Chacon double scored a runner from first.
 
Harrison Lee came on in relief in the top of the fifth, and went the next three innings without allowing a run to score. Lee forced the Dustdevils into two straight three up, three down innings and allowed no hits in his first two innings of work.
 
The bottom of the sixth showed the definition of grit for the Patriots offense. After a leadoff double from Ethan Bedgood, he was pinch run for by Alex Bruce. Gochenour came up big again, this time drilling a single that scored Bruce from second. Watson came up with another single that allowed Gochenour to go to third after an error. That brought up Kyle Hawkins, who singled in Gochenour to give the Patriots a 4-3 lead.
 
With the lead now in hand, Lee came out to close out the game and secure the win. After a leadoff single from Chacon, Lee forced the next hitter into a weak popup to shortstop. With one out and a runner on first, Beto Cervantes entered the game as a pinch hitter. He launched a rocket to defensive replacement Edward Ortiz, who snagged it and then doubled off Chacon to end the game.
 
Riley Lambert and Jordan Gochenour were the two Patriots with multiple hits. Lambert finished 2-for-3 and Gochenour finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
 
Rickett finished the game with four innings pitched, giving up three hits while striking out five. Harrison Lee in relief pitched three innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four while earning the win.
 
GAME TWO
 
Nick Niebur started game two for the Patriots after starting game four last week against Angelo State. After getting a strikeout to start the game, the next hitter reached by error. A single moved him to third and Cervantes drove in a run with a double just two hitters later. After another error scored another run, the Patriots threw out the second runner trying to score to end the inning and limit the damage to just two runs.
 
Following a three up three down inning in the bottom half of the first, Niebur came back out for the second and sat Chacon down with a strikeout to start the inning. The next Dustdevil hitter was Antonio Buentello, and he drove a ball deep over the left center field fence to make it 3-0.
 
Niebur settled in after giving up the big shot, allowing just three hits for the remainder of the contest and striking out five hitters. In the top of the third, Niebur hit the first hitter and allowed an infield single, but after a strikeout and a double play, he was out of the inning with no damage.
 
The Patriots offense struggled to find a rhythm throughout the game against Dustdevils starter Jan Cabrera. UT Tyler put just four runners on base through five innings, but the tide began to turn in the bottom half of the sixth.
 
Lambert led the inning with a walk. Tommy van de Sanden roped a deep double off the fence in left center field that drove in Lambert just a few pitches later. Kyle McShaffry came up next to extend the rally, and promptly singled through the right side. Van de Sanden came around to score, and McShaffry moved up to second via error on the throw. However the rally came up just short, as the next three hitters went down in order.
 
After Chacon grounded out to begin the inning, Buentello went yard again, this time right down the left field line and made the score 4-2 in favor of Texas A&M International. That gave the Dustdevils all the cushion they needed as they closed out the Patriots in order in the bottom half of the seventh.
 
The big contributers in game two for the Patriots were Tommy van de Sanden and Kyle McShaffry. Van de Sanden went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while McShaffry went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
 
Nick Niebur was the only pitcher of the game for UT Tyler, giving up five hits and two earned runs while striking out eight hitters.