SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – The UT Tyler Baseball program opened the NCAA Division II Super Regional with an emphatic 12-3 win over top-seeded Angelo State on Thursday night. The Patriots came out firing, pounding out 16 hits and scoring in five different innings as every starter recorded at least one hit and one run.
After a quick out to start the game, UT Tyler's offense got rolling with a single and a walk to put two runners aboard. Kyle Atkinson broke the ice with an RBI double off the wall, and Bryce Jewell followed with a run-scoring single up the middle. A sacrifice fly brought home the third run of the inning, giving the Patriots an early 3-0 lead.
On the mound, Rawley Hector set the tone with a perfect first inning. The offense quickly got back to work in the second. Again, following a leadoff out, UT Tyler put runners on the bases with a single and a double. After an early Angelo State pitching change, Justin Williams crushed a three-run homer to straightaway center, extending the lead to 6-0.
Angelo State scratched across a run in the bottom of the second after a hit batter eventually came around to score on a single and a double-play groundout. The Rams added another run in the fifth, cutting the lead to 6-2 after a leadoff double scored on an error and sacrifice bunt.
UT Tyler responded immediately in the sixth. A one-out single set the table for Connor Clark, who blasted a two-run homer to center field to push the lead to 8-2. Angelo State added its final run in the seventh on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, but the Patriots never let the Rams get any closer.
Tanner Hornback opened the eighth with a solo homer to right field, and the Patriots tacked on three more in the ninth. Drew Schmidt launched a two-run homer to center after a leadoff single, and a later error led to another run when Hornback delivered his third RBI of the night with a single.
Hector earned his 10th win of the season, going 5.0 innings while allowing just one earned run on four hits and striking out two. Nick Niebur closed out the final four frames in relief, giving up one run on four hits with two strikeouts to notch his third save of the year.
Offensively, it was a complete team effort. Every starter had at least one hit and one run scored, and six players turned in multi-hit games. Ethan Menard led the way with a 3-for-5 night out of the leadoff spot. Williams went 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI, including his 14th home run of the year. Clark added a two-hit, two-RBI night, while Hornback had two hits and drove in three.
Schmidt made history with his second-inning bunt single, breaking the program's single-season hits record. He finished 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, bringing his season total to 92 hits.
With the win, the Patriots improve to 47-11 and are now one win away from clinching a spot in the NCAA Division II College World Series. They return to action Friday night at 7 p.m. in San Angelo, looking to sweep the Super Regional and advance to Cary, North Carolina.
