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Jacks Grab 5-4 Victory in Victoria

June 26, 2015 - Texas Collegiate League (TCL)
East Texas PumpJacks News Release


The Pump Jacks collected 12 hits and surged to an early lead before holding off a late charge from the Generals.

Thursday morning, the East Texas Pump Jacks drove 300 miles from Tyler to Riverside Stadium to take on the Victoria Generals. After the six-hour bus ride, they played nine innings of baseball.

In the end, it all came down to a couple of feet.

The Pump Jacks jumped out to an early lead and held off a late charge by the Generals for a 5-4 victory, their sixth win in eight games.

Closer Tyler Adams dueled with Victoria for the final inning and two-thirds, and the game went down to the wire, with the final batter representing the winning run. Despite the drama, Adams earned his league-leading fifth save.

With a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Adams walked the leadoff batter then picked up a quick out. An RBI double by Pedro Barrios cut the lead in half, then Barrios took third on a groundout.

That brought Romeo Cortina to the plate with the tying run just 90 feet away and a chance to play the hero. Cortina, a TCL all-star in 2013, wasn't trying to just tie the game, though. He blasted a fastball up in the zone to deep center field, sending James Lear all the way back to the warning track to make the grab and end the game.

Adams was protecting a lead the Pump Jacks built in the beginning of the game. Lear led off the contest with a double, and Dilon Argo immediately brought Lear home with an RBI single. One out later, Jake Nash's sharp grounder to third was mishandled, putting runners on the corners. Tyler Moore lofted a sacrifice fly to deep center that scored Argo and gave the Pump Jacks a quick 2-0 lead.

The Pump Jacks had a chance to break the game open when Dylan Mecham reached on an error and Nick Roark walked to load the bases with two outs. However, Eddie Silva grounded into a fielder's choice to end the threat.

The Pump Jacks' defense gave a run back on an error in the home half of the first, but starting pitcher Bryce Howe caught a rhythm and kept the Generals scoreless for the next two innings.

Meanwhile, East Texas extended its lead in both the second and third innings.

Argo picked up his second RBI of the night when he singled home Anthony Donovan in the second. Donovan led off the inning with a walk and moved into scoring position on a groundout.

In the third inning, Mecham kicked off a two-out rally with a single, followed quickly by base hits from Roark and Silva to load the bases. An RBI single by Donovan scored Mecham and gave the Jacks a 4-1 edge.

The back and forth continued as Victoria tallied a run in the fourth on an RBI groundout.

East Texas responded in the top of the fifth inning with another two-out rally. Silva singled with two away and Donovan walked, then Lear's base hit drove in Silva for a 5-2 Pump Jacks lead.

A Victoria sacrifice fly in the fifth closed the gap to 5-3, then Howe retired the Generals in order in the sixth to end his night. He earned the win by allowing just three runs in six innings, striking out four. It was a nice bounceback effort after he surrendered seven runs last Thursday against these very same Generals.

Jimmy Johnson relieved Howe and kept Victoria quiet for the seventh inning. Matt Smith was a thorn in the side of the Jacks all night, and led off the eighth with a single. After Smith advanced to second on a groundout and swiped third base, head coach Ernie May brought in Adams for the last five outs.

Adams struck out two batters to quickly put an end to the threat and set the stage for the drama in the final frame.

Lear had himself another hot night at the plate, going 3-for-6 with a double and an RBI. The Jacks' sparkplug is now 6-for-11 with two doubles, two RBI, and three runs scored in his last two games, helping raise his season average to .320.

The Jacks also got multi-hit games from Argo, Silva, and Donovan.

East Texas and Victoria will square off again on Friday night, and as always, fans can tune in to our live Ustream broadcast or follow the game with live scoring updates on our Pointstreak feed.

The Pump Jacks will return home for a weekend series against the Texas Marshals. Game time both Saturday and Sunday is 7:05, and gates will open at 6:00 p.m.

To follow all the news during the Jacks' inaugural season in Tyler, visit the Pump Jacks official web site at www.pumpjacksbaseball.com. Join the conversation with other members of Pump Jacks Nation by visiting the Pump Jacks on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Texas Collegiate League Stories from June 26, 2015


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