April 20, 2008

FORT WORTH, Texas -- In a Red River Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday (April 19), Texas Wesleyan's Hayden Lackey made his 96^th and 97^th career relief appearances, breaking the standing NAIA career record of 95.  Meanwhile, the 18^th ranked Rams (33-12) swept the twin bill from Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) University (15-23, 7-8 RRAC) 6-0, and 14-0 to wrap up the RRAC North Division Championship at 14-1 on the season.

Lackey, a fourth-year senior from Duncanville, TX, is also the school record holder with 14 saves in a season (2007) and 22 saves in his career.  He was named RRAC Pitcher of the Year and Honorable Mention All-American last season, and was a Baseball America Preseason All-American this season.  After Saturday's doubleheader, he has made 98 total appearances and is just four shy of topping the national record for total appearances currently held by Viterbo's Michael Iverson (2002-05) at 101.

Although the games were played at Texas Wesleyan's LaGrave Field, the Rams were the visitor on the scoreboard.  Brandon Frazier set the tone for the day by knocking the first pitch of the day off the wall in left-center for a double.  The Rams then added RBI singles from Antoine Cole and Blake Walker to take a quick 2-0 lead.

Steven DeFratus shut the Lions down for five innings before giving way to Lackey in the sixth.  That moved DeFratus' personal streak to 24 consecutive shutout innings in his last four outings.

The Rams picked up two unearned runs in the fifth inning before a solo homer from Butch Ballez in the sixth and an RBI single from Zach Smith in the seventh rans the score to 6-0.

DeFratus (8-2) allowed just four hits while striking out eight in five innings of work.

Frazier and Cole, who hit one and two in the Rams' order, both went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

The Rams broke out the long ball in game two.  The scoring started with a two-run home run from Walker in the second inning.  In the third the Rams added seven runs including a pair of three-run bombs from Ballez and Kyle Harmon.

Texas Wesleyan added two runs in the fourth and one each in the fifth and sixth for the 14-0 final score.

Aaron Wimpee improved to 7-0 on the season while dropping his ERA to 1.90 after allowing four hits and striking out three in five innings of work.  Lackey allowed one hit and struck out two in the sixth inning.

Frazier and Cole both had a pair of hits in game-two.  Ballez went 2-for-2 with four RBI, while Harmon was 3-for-4 with a double, home run, and four RBI.

The Rams return to the field on Monday, when they host Wiley College in a rematch of last year's RRAC title game.  That contest is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start at LaGrave Field.