TYLER, TEXAS – The UT Tyler baseball team capped off a dominant weekend with an 18-3 rout of Sul Ross State on Sunday afternoon, securing a series sweep. The Patriots tallied 14 hits, with 10 different players recording a hit and 11 crossing the plate. The bullpen delivered 6.1 innings of shutout baseball, striking out seven and allowing no earned runs.
Sul Ross State jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, chasing UT Tyler's starter. A leadoff single, a walk, and two stolen bases set the stage for a pair of RBI groundout and infield single, giving the Lobos a 2-0 advantage. After two more singles, Jacob Hadden entered in relief and needed just one pitch to get the Patriots out of the inning.
UT Tyler quickly responded in the bottom half of the first. Connor Clark led off with a single to right, followed by a fielder's choice, a walk, and stolen bases to put runners on second and third. Ethan Menard's sacrifice fly plated the first run, and Bryce Jewell laid down an RBI bunt single to tie the game at 2-2.
The Patriots broke the game open in the third inning, scoring nine runs on seven hits and one Lobo error. Every batter in the lineup came around to score. Drew Schmidt led the inning with a triple to right-center, and Menard followed with an RBI single. After a single and an error, Tanner Hornback delivered an RBI single to load the bases. Two walks and another single plated four more runs. Justin Williams then crushed the second triple of the inning, driving in two. Schmidt, in his second at-bat of the inning, added an RBI single to cap the explosion and give UT Tyler an 11-2 lead.
UT Tyler extended the lead in the fourth, scoring three runs without a hit. A combination of walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a groundout pushed the score to 14-2. The Lobos managed one more run in the fifth after a walk and a throwing error.
The Patriots added four more runs across the fifth and sixth innings to put the game away. A walk, single, and error loaded the bases in the fifth, setting up a sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Williams. In the sixth, a wild pitch scored one run, and Kyle Atkinson drew an RBI walk to make it 18-3 — the final score.
After the rocky first inning, the Patriots' bullpen was stellar. Hadden earned his fourth win of the season, tossing 3.1 innings of one-hit ball with two strikeouts. Nate Campbell, Nick Niebur, and Julio Garcia each added a scoreless inning, combining to allow no hits to close the game.
Williams, Schmidt, Jewell, and Brock Bearden each collected two hits. Williams drove in three runs to bring his season total to 45. Schmidt's triple was his fifth of the year, and he now has hits in 40 of 42 games played. Bearden finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and an RBI.
The sweep marks UT Tyler's fifth of the season as they improve to 33-9. The Patriots will hit the road next weekend for a four-game Lone Star Conference series in Edmond, Oklahoma, beginning Thursday.
