Baseball took its first trip out of state to face Fresno State in California, where the Wildcats would win the series two games to one.
The Wildcats entered their first non-conference weekend series since March 4, having gone just 1-5 in their last six games while getting outscored 31-67 in those games. The series win over Fresno State marked a turnaround for the Wildcats being able to capitalize both at the plate and on the mound.
Game one was on March 14; the Wildcats opened with a six-run first inning and cruised to a 7-2 victory. This was due in part to the efforts of Adam Stephenson, a junior left-handed pitcher from Southlake.
Stephenson dealt 6.2 innings for the Wildcats giving up just two runs on five hits while striking out eight Bulldogs. The Wildcat offense was also hot, with Tanner Tweedt, a junior catcher from Red Bluff, California, going 3-4 in game one.
Game two would prove the only loss on the weekend for the Wildcats. Leading Fresno State entering the bottom of the eighth 7-2, the Wildcats proceeded to submit five runs to the Bulldogs in the bottom of the eighth in route to a 9-8 loss setting up a game three rubber match.
Genner Cervantes, a senior right-handed pitcher from Phoenix, Arizona, would lead the Wildcats into game three and would not disappoint. Cervantes would throw 6.1 innings while only giving up four hits and one run.
Continuing the Wildcats theme for the weekend of balanced baseball, with the offense with WAC preseason player of the year Colton Eager, a graduate right fielder from North Richland Hills, going 2-4 with three RBI in the Wildcats 6-3 series, sealing the victory.
The win would be the Wildcat’s first series win since defeating the Lamar Cardinals on April 3. It would also turn the team back in the right direction with an 18-18 record putting the team back about .500.
For head coach Rick McCarty it was good to see such a consistent series from his players.
“I thought our guys played really well, top to bottom, you know,” McCarty said. “I thought we outperformed and outplayed them 26 of the 27 innings this weekend. One inning got us on Saturday, but I was very, very pleased with our starting pitching, our lineup one through nine.”
The Wildcat’s next game will be game one of a three-game series versus WAC southwest division rival UTRGV Vaqueros this weekend. All three games will be at Crutcher-Scott Field and streamed live on ESPN+.
