Add a win against New Mexico Junior College to the growing list of firsts for the Amarillo College baseball team this season.
After going 0-8 against the Thunderbirds the past two years, AC earned its first victory over NMJC to open the series on Friday at Wilder Field in Plainview.
“It was a hard-fought series. We finally got them away from their home field and that makes a huge difference,” AC head coach Brandon Rains said.
Sophomore pitchers Logan Tibbett and Isaac Garza held one of the top power hitting units in the country in check. Tibbett tallied eight strikeouts and two walks through six innings of work while Garza put up a zero in the run column during the seventh frame, securing a save and a 6-3 victory.
“Their sophomore leadership was on display,” Rains said. “Tibbett showed why he’s one of the best pitchers in the conference and Garza kept their hitters off balance.”
The Thunderbirds took a 3-0 lead after two innings in game one before David De Hoyos’ RBI double cut the Badgers deficit to 3-1 in the third frame. A Brooks Carter RBI double and a Gerardo Prado RBI single gave the Badgers their first lead (4-3) during the fourth inning.
“Those guys have been clutch for us all year,” Rains noted. “They stepped up once again.”
Zyon Hamilton’s hard hit ground ball in the fourth, which resulted in a fielder’s choice, and a Christian McGuire hit by pitch with the bases loaded during the bottom of the sixth extended AC’s lead to 6-3. Carter and Prado finished the game with a team-high two hits each. Carter recorded a pair of doubles and two RBIs.
Tibbett earned his third win of the season and improved his conference record to 2-0. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native and Appalachian State University baseball signee has a team-high 41 strikeouts in conference play. New Mexico Junior College went on to win game two 10-2 to split day one in Plainview with the Badgers.
Ja’Marcus Smith kept his team-best strikeout-to-walk rate intact during his first start of the season. The Lubbock native had eight strikeouts, two walks, and one earned run in five innings.
The Thunderbirds claimed a 5-0 win in game three on Saturday despite a career-best performance by CJ Thornton on the mound.
The freshman righty recorded eight strikeouts, two walks, and two earned runs across 5.2 innings as a reliever. Thornton was placed on the hill facing a 2-0 deficit with one out in the first frame. The shutout loss, which featured three AC hits, marked the second time this season the Badgers were held scoreless.
Prado guided the AC offense back on track with a pair of home runs and five RBIs in the series finale. The contest marked his first career multi-homer game for the University of Oklahoma baseball signee.
But 10 walks and five wild pitches by AC hurlers proved too much to overcome as NMJC handed the Badgers their second run-rule defeat of the series by a score of 16-8.
“I think anytime you have two conference starters that don’t make it out of the first or second inning, you’re fighting an uphill battle,” Rains explained.
The 1-3 outing against the Thunderbirds moved AC’s conference record to 11-13. AC is currently in sixth place in the WJCAC, sitting one game behind fifth place El Paso Community College and four games behind Howard College for the fourth and final postseason slot with 12 games remaining.
Up next for the Badgers is an away series at Odessa College on Thursday and Friday.