Box Score LAREDO (February 19) – TAMIU scored consecutive runs in the seventh and eighth innings after squandering an early 4-0 lead to top Oklahoma Christian University 6-5 Tuesday afternoon at Jorge Haynes Field.
 
The Eagles plated two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to pull even with TAMIU, who led for the majority of the afternoon.
 
Donald Fennell, Jared Curnel, and Stephen Dickerson combined to throw five shutout innings before OCU jumped on TAMIU’s middle relievers.  Abraham Almonte allowed a leadoff single to start the sixth before a hit batsman and a wild pitch gave the Eagles their first run of the game.  An error at short by Alvaro Rondon plated another OCU run to even the game at two.  Francisco Sanchez stepped in and retired the next three OCU batters to pull TAMIU out of the jam.
 
In the seventh Gordie Taggart faced only three batters after putting runners at the corners with two walks and two wild pitches.  Baylr Bickerton then gave up two runs on two singles before he was able to get out of the inning with the game tied at four.
 
Rondon smoked a double down the left field line to lead off the seventh and advanced to second on a perfectly placed bunt single by leadoff hitter Jeff Anderson.  TAMIU’s next batter Hector Gonzalez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but Rondon was able to score from third to give the Dustdevils a 5-4 lead.
 
The Eagles singled twice and capitalized on an error by Rondon at shortstop in the eighth to even the game at five, but TAMIU answered in the bottom half to take the lead for good.
 
Alex McKeon led off with a single to left center and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Salas.  After Matt Garcia drew a walk, Sean Smedley singled back up the middle in his only at bat of the game to load the bases with one out.  Jaron Shimmel then grounded into what should’ve been an inning ending double play, but an errant throw to first base allowed McKeon to trot home for what would be the game winning run. 
 
Dino Cristiani came on in the ninth and retired the Eagles in order to pick up his second save of the season.  Bickerton picked up his first win of the season allowing one run on four hits with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.
 
McKeon had another solid game at the plate tallying three hits, while Gonzalez and Anderson recorded two hits apiece.
 
The Dustdevils improve to 10-2 on the season with the win and will now get set to return to conference play this weekend.  TAMIU will host Newman University in a three-game set at Jorge Haynes Field starting on Friday.