Rams win back-to-back games

The Bellarmine Knights from Kentucky came to Texas to win some baseball games, but so far have done the exact opposite.


After losing to Tarleton State University on Sunday, the Knights fell to the Rams in back-to-back games to make their record 0-3 in games played in the Lone Star State.


Meanwhile, this is the first time the Rams have won back-to-back games since they started their season 5-0 before falling to 10-5.


Now, at 12-5, the Rams are ready to spend their spring break playing baseball with five games over seven days.


The Rams won the first game 4-0 after another gem from junior pitcher Bryce Zak, who won Lone Star Conference Pitcher of the Week for a second week in a row after pitching six innings of shutout ball while striking out seven batters.


Zak has pitched 20.1 consecutive shutout innings in his last three starts and has a 4-0 record as a starter.


The last time Zak has given up an earned run was Feb. 2 against Ouachita Baptist University.


While Zak excelled, the Rams bats struggled as they went down on strikes 12 times over the game and left the bases loaded twice.


The Rams’ offense still produced four runs, with two of them scoring because the pitcher walked a Rams batter with the bases loaded.


Junior infielders Tyler Coughenour and Reggie Rodriguez batted in the other two runs.


Coughenour grounded a runner from third to home, and Rodriguez connected on a fast ball over the plate and blasted it over the wall about 700 feet for his third home run of the year.


The Rams team has six home runs on the year.


A standout defensive performance was made by senior catcher Andrew LaCombe, who kept baserunners on their bases with routine pickoff attempts and caught one stealing in top of the sixth.


“We’ve got really good coaches who work us through all the scenarios,” LaCombe said. “For the most part, everything I’ve seen in a game, I’ve seen in practice with the coaching staff preparing us.”


LaCombe continued the performance into the next game where the Knights didn’t have a single stolen base the entire night.


The Rams won the second game 6-4 and senior Bryant Rutledge earned his first win of the year after going five innings of two-run ball.


Rutledge came back after missing last year due to injury and Tommy John surgery
Rutledge walked none and struck out seven despite having trouble with his slider pitch.


“I’ve been struggling with my arm slide recently,” Rutledge said. “Also going back to the injury, it was hard for me to find that same arm slide that I had before I had the surgery, so I’ve been working on keeping my arm slide down.”


Rutledge said he will get better with each outing and that the best is yet to come.


Rutledge said he is also happy to see spring break come because his parents will be coming into town to see him and said he’s looking forward to it.


The Rams’ next game is against Southeastern Oklahoma State University on Monday, March 12, 2013 at Foster Field at 6:30 p.m.