Jays are four of five in Texas
Tabor baseball team wins four of five against Lone Star State opponents
Spring break has had its share of miseries for the Bluejays on the baseball diamond. Last year it was butting heads with some of the Gold Rush State's top NAIA programs.
This year, it was heading south to the baseball hotbed Lone Star State, where the Bluejays (13-11, 2-2 KCAC) won a progressive four of five games against quality opponents.
Tabor opened spring break March 20 in Tyler, sweeping Texas College, 7-4 and 6-3, respectively.
Layne Frick picked up the win on the mound in the opener with Gerald Goodale emerging the victor in the finale.
Two days later, the Bluejays traveled to Fort Worth to face Texas Wesleyan, a team that toppled perennial juggernaut, two-time NAIA runner-up and second-ranked Oklahoma City.
Behind starter Zavien Rivers and Frick slamming the door for the save, the Rams couldn't butt through Tabor in the opener, falling 8-6.
Trailing 6-3 after Rivers gave up three runs, two off a single to close out the fifth, the Bluejays rallied for a five-run sixth for the win.
That came off two hits and three TWU errors.
Mike Fouquet and Grant Brubacher each went 2-for-4 with Brubacher tripling. Keenan Morris was 2-for-3.
Clinging to a 1-0 lead after the top half of the first in the nightcap, starter Tyson Bauerle and the Bluejays put the Rams in front 2-1 after one, spotting them a pair of unearned runs from errors.
Jeremy Ball scored the tying run in the top of the second with a two-out single to score J.R. Mendoza.
TWU pulled ahead again, 3-2, in the bottom of the fourth off a sacrifice fly.
Brubacher ripped the game-tying single in the top of the fifth, getting a free pass to second off an error in right field.
The game stayed in a deadlock the next inning and a half, forcing bonus baseball.
With the bases filled with Rams in the bottom of the eighth, TWU got the winning run courtesy of a wild pitch.
Tabor completed the Texas break March 23 in Waxahacie against Southwest Assemblies of God.
The Bluejays cashed in on two Lion errors in the top of the first and solid pitching, hanging on for a 3-1 win in a nine-inning game.
Grant Huck and Goodale combined to fire a three-hitter with the Lions scoring their only run off an error.
Tabor faced the St. Mary Spires Wednesday in Hillsboro in a doubleheader which could leave a two-way log jam for second in the KCAC behind Friends.
After a six game road stand, the Bluejays face a fearsome foursome in Hillsboro starting at 1 p.m. Saturday against Kansas Wesleyan.
Tabor then hosts preseason league favorite and Region IV's second-ranked Sterling Warriors Monday and Bethany Tuesday. Both games begin at 4 p.m.
Results of Wednesday's action were not available at time of publication.
