Austin --- The Rams baseball program begin their 2008 season splitting a doubleheader against the Mustangs from Mount Mercy College who began their season ranked 3rd in Region VII. Mount Mercy is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and in talking with several of the Mustang players, they will be able to start practicing on their own baseball field in about 5 weeks due to the cold weather in their area.
In game one the Rams started with senior left-handed pitcher Zed Anigwe (Spring, TX/Klein Collins HS) who went four innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 5 Mustangs. Senior right-handed Jimmy Young (Converse, TX) came in relief of Anigwe in the top of the fifth and Ross Chapman (Austin, TX/Bowie HS) finish the sixth and seventh innings for the Rams.
The Rams out hit the Mustangs 10-6 but just couldn’t bring the runs across home plate. Senior catcher Trent Reynolds (Austin, TX/Anderson HS) led the Rams going 3 for 3 and 1 walk with support from Mario Garza III (La Joya, TX) hitting 2 for 2 and Jeremy Macklin (Austin, TX/Bowie HS) going 2 for 4.
In game two sophomore Gerardo Leal (Mission, TX/Cisco JC) and senior Corey Jahn (Taylor, TX/Taylor HS) combined to NO-HIT the Mustangs to help the Rams to their first win of the 2008 season. Leal went five and two-thirds innings walking 8 and striking out 7 and Jahn finished the game with 5 walks and 3 strikeouts.
The Rams offense broke out in the bottom of the first sending nine batters to the plate scoring 4 runs on 4 hits. Senior left fielder Travis O’Donnell (Austin, TX/Bowie HS), Tony Enos (Austin, TX/Bowie HS), Ruben Rosales (Austin, TX/Del Valle HS), and Jamal Carrington (Houston, TX/Texas Southern) each had 2 hits apiece with Carrington hitting a monstrous 415-foot home run over the center field fence.
Next Opponent: The Rams host another doubleheader on Monday, January 28th against Mount Mercy College with the first game starting at 1:00 pm.