LAREDO, TEXAS – UT Tyler baseball continued to post strong offensive numbers on Sunday afternoon, but it was late offense from Texas A&M International that gave them the 14-12 win.
 
That staunch Patriots offense wasted no time in getting to work, posting six runs in the top of the first inning in support of starter Nolan Cox. Ethan Bedgood was the first man to contribute, knocking in a run with an RBI single. Jordan Gochenour followed with his own RBI single, and that led into Adrian Minjares posting a two RBI double down the left field line.
 
That moved the Patriots ahead 4-0, and then Dylan Blomquist connected on his second home run of the season to tack on two more runs.
 
The Dustdevils would move a runner to third in the bottom of the first, but could not add a run as Cox worked out of the jam. In the second inning, the Dustdevils would get on the board after an RBI double and then a sacrifice bunt that drove in a run to cut the lead to four. Two more runs followed in the third inning as Texas A&M International launched a two run home run to get within two.
 
With the lead cut down to just two runs, the Patriots offense needed to find their flow to keep the lead. That flow was found, as Carson Cox singled and then moved to second on a balk to move into scoring position. Lane Hutchinson brought him home with an RBI single, and Austin Ochoa connected on a home run of his own to bump the lead out to 9-4 in the Patriots favor.
 
The Dustdevils continued to be stingy offense, as they brought around another pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning thanks to a two RBI single.
 
The scoring would finally settle down as neither team provided any run support in the fifth and sixth inning. Hayden Collins took over for Cox in the fourth inning, and got out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth and posted a 1-2-3 sixth.
 
In the seventh inning, the Dustdevils struck in a big way, posting seven runs to launch themselves into the lead for the first time in the game. After they loaded the bases on a single and two walks, an RBI infield single plated the first run, and the next hitter delivered a bigtime grand slam to take the lead by two. Another solo home run followed, and the scoring rounded out with another RBI single.
 
Head coach Brent Porche has talked about how they never feel like they are out of games due to their strong offense, and that was the case on Sunday as they responded to the Dustdevils big outburst with three runs of their own thanks to a huge three run blast from Ethan Bedgood.
 
That three run blast would pull the Patriots within one as the game progressed to the bottom of the eighth inning, but the Dustdevils had another answer in the form of a solo home run to move the lead to two runs.
 
That set up a critical top of the ninth, but the Patriots went down in order for the first time all game and the Dustdevils took their first game of the series.
 
Lane Hutchinson, Ethan Bedgood, and Jordan Gochenour each totaled two hits on the game, and Bedgood, Austin Ochoa, Adrian Minjares, and Dylan Blomquist all had at least two RBI.
 
Hayden Collins got the loss, his first of the season. He went two innings while allowing five runs and striking out a pair of hitters.
 
The Patriots will now host Texas A&M-Kingsville in a four game series this weekend. That series will start at 7 p.m. on Friday at Irwin Field.