This weekend, the Royals hosted #3 Arlington Baptist University in a 3 game series. Each game was hard-fought by both teams as ABU ultimately took the first series of the year 2-1.
Blaine Dunstan started the weekend on the mound for the Royals. Dunstan didn't have his best day and took his second loss of the year, lasting 3 innings and allowing 6 earned runs.
The offense didn't give in, however. After only scoring one run through 4 innings, the team rattled off three straight 2-run innings to finish with 7. Though it wasn't enough in Game 1, the never-quit mindset proved very important in Game 2.
Aidan Wagley started the second game of the doubleheader and, due to the high-powered ABU offense, had a similar statline to Dunstan. He also threw 3 innings and allowed 6 earned runs, but did strike out 6.
Cade Bell pitched in relief and steadied the ship, allowing 1 run in 2 innings of work,
Derek Harbison pitched the 6th inning and gave up 2 earned runs on 4 hits, followed by
Jacob Price who threw the 7th and retired three straight batters.
The offense carried the never-say-die mentality into Game 2. After going down 8-1 after an 8-run 3rd inning by ABU, the Royals punched right back with a 6 run inning of their own to bring the score to 8-7. After Arlington scored 4 more to take a 12-7 lead into the bottom of the 7th inning, it was now or never for the Royals in a pivotal home conference game. After a leadoff double from
Delton Lamborn and a single from
Adrian Vivo,
Diego Canuelas hit an RBI single to score Lamborn and make it 12-8.
Gabe Reed then walked to load the bases.
Eddison Marcano pinch hit and grounded into an RBI fielder's choice to put runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out, down 12-9.
Ethan Delgado then smacked a 1-0 fastball to right field for an RBI single to make it 12-10 with runners at 1st and 2nd, with the tying run now on base. After
Gustavo Soto walked on a 3-1 count,
Ray Jaramillo came to bat with the bases loaded and shot the first pitch the other way to left for a base hit to score 2 runs and tie the game 12-12 with the winning run now at 2nd. After working a full count,
Jett Warner called game when he hit a 3-run walk off bomb to deep center field to complete the improbable comeback for the Royals, who were down 8-1 in the 3rd and 12-7 in the 7th and winning the game 15-12.
On Saturday, the teams played the tiebreaking Game 3.
Cole Edwards started for the Royals and pitched 5.1 of the scheduled 9 innings, allowing 6 runs and fanning 3. Edwards took his first loss of the year to make his record 4-1.
The offense still never gave up, scoring 10 runs in the game. The team came into the series with the 10th ranked offense in the country and definitely made a case to move higher on the list this weekend.
The team will get another chance this weekend when they travel to Arlington to play ABU in another 3 game series with another doubleheader this Friday and a single 9-inning game on Saturday. There's still a lot of baseball to be played in 2025.
