SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – UT Tyler baseball evened the series at 1-1 against #9 Angelo State with a 2-0 victory in a 10-inning pitcher's duel on Saturday. The Patriots scored the only two runs of the game in the top of the 10th, finishing with seven hits and no defensive miscues, while the pitching staff shut out the Rams and limited them to just four hits on the night.
The Patriots threatened in the first with two walks but were unable to capitalize. Ethan Jezierski got the start on the mound and worked around a walk and a single in the bottom half, inducing a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play. He followed that by setting the Rams down in order in the second.
UT Tyler again loaded the bases in the third after a single and two walks with one out, but Angelo State turned a 5-4-3 double play to escape the jam. Jezierski handed the ball to Tyler Puckett with two outs in the third and a runner on second. After walking his first batter, Puckett ended the inning with a strikeout. Over the next three innings, he allowed minimal traffic — one walk in the fourth, a hit-by-pitch in the fifth, and a single in the sixth — capping off 3.1 strong innings out of the bullpen.
Coleson Abel took over in the seventh and worked out of immediate trouble after allowing a leadoff double that advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Abel responded with a strikeout and induced an infield popup to escape the inning. Aside from that double, he was dominant, recording a flyout and two strikeouts in the eighth before setting the Rams down in order in the ninth to force extra innings.
The Patriots finally broke through in the 10th. Travis Bragg led off with a single and advanced on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. Connor Clark followed with a one-out single to right field to put runners on the corners. After a strikeout, Drew Schmidt delivered a clutch two-out single to left to make it 1-0. Kaston Mason added an insurance run with a single through the left side, pushing the lead to 2-0.
Garrett Landry entered in the bottom of the 10th with one out and a runner on first and secured the win with a flyout and lineout to earn the Patriots' first save of the season.
Six Patriots recorded at least one hit, with Mason the only player tallying multiple hits. The pitching staff was the story of the night, combining to allow just four hits and no runs while striking out eight. Abel earned his first win of the year after tossing three innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts and now holds a 0.80 WHIP across five scoreless innings this season. Puckett logged the most innings with 3.1 and three strikeouts, bringing his season total to 7.1 innings with a 1.23 ERA out of the bullpen.
The Patriots will return to the field Sunday at 1 p.m. for the rubber match, looking to secure their first road series win of the season and a key top-10 victory.
