Pitching was a well-known commodity heading into the 2026 season for the Badger baseball team.
The revamped 2026 pitching staff displayed a noticeable improvement on Friday and Sunday at Hodgetown, resulting in a 2-2 series split against Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Following electric outings in Brenham against No. 2 Blinn College, Feb. 6-7, Aiden White and Eli Heyen harnessed the opposing team’s offense yet again.
White allowed one earned run and struck out six batters during the first six frames to open the first-ever series between the AC and KCKCC. With the score tied at 1-1, Heyen got the call to close and answered with two strikeouts and one hit allowed in the final inning.
Sophomore third baseman Matthew Tellez ensued with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning, driving in Jaxson Lindsey to propel AC to a dramatic game one finish.
After a 10-4 Game 2 loss on Friday, AC responded in Game 3 on Sunday behind the arms of Carter Williams and Alex Cruz.
Williams allowed one earned run, no walks, and struck out seven batters over six innings during his second start of the 2026 campaign.
Cruz claimed the first save of his Amarillo College career, fanning a pair of batters and allowing one hit in the final frame of the 5-2 victory.
“The four pitchers in our wins really stepped up and competed at a high level. They threw a ton of strikes and had a lot of swing misses with their secondary pitches,” AC head coach Brandon Rains said. “As long as those guys can keep pitching like they are capable of, we’ll win a lot of baseball games.”
Leadoff hitter Jatniel McCloud provided a much-needed spark for the Badgers’ offense during a come-from-behind game three victory via an RBI single, narrowing AC’s deficit to 2-1 in the bottom half of the third.
Colton McClure’s bat tied the game in the fourth frame, driving in Luis Gonzalez on an RBI single to left field. Fellow freshman Rowin Donaldson had what proved to be the game-winning hit the following inning.
The Seminole native slapped a two-run RBI single to left field, giving AC a 4-2 lead. Jaykenn Marrero put an exclamation point on the win with an RBI double to close out the sixth inning.
During the series finale on Sunday, the Badgers had the lead for five frames of the seven-inning contest but could not close it out on their home turf.
The Blue Devils plated two runs in the seventh inning en route to a 3-2 victory.
AC’s record moved to 3-8 overall with the series split.
The Badgers will host Garden City (5-3) for a pair of doubleheaders at Hodgetown, Feb. 20-21, starting at noon both days.
