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The ATU Baseball team traveled to Houston, Texas to kick off their season in the Houston Winter Invitational from Feb. 2-4. The event served as an important early test for the Wonder Boys as two of their three games were against top-10 national competition, and a strong performance would set the tone for the rest of the season to come.
The first game of the invitation saw the Wonder Boys take on the #3 in the league University of Tampa Spartans–one of the most storied programs in all of Division Two baseball. The Wonder Boyssurrendered runs in each of the first four frames, allowing the Spartans to jump out to a 14-0 lead.
ATU bounced back in the bottom of the fourth, getting three runs of their own. The Wonder Boys would go on to add a run in each of the next two innings before allowing the Spartans to score three more in the top of the seventh. After the Wonder Boys failed to cut the deficit in the bottom of the seventh, the game was called, 17-5 in favor of the Spartans.
Trying to shake off the previous day’s loss, the Wonder Boys took on the St. Cloud State Huskies in their second game of the invitational. Early in the first inning the Wonder Boys had a great scoring opportunity–working the bases loaded without a hit–but ultimately exited the inning scoreless. The Wonder Boys then had to work themselves out of a jam in each of the next two innings, surrendering one run but stranding five St. Cloud State baserunners in the process.
The rest of the game amounted to a pitcher’s duel until the top of the ninth when ATU came to bat losing 4-1 and down to their last three outs. The Wonder Boy bats caught fire, scoring eight runs in the final frame, an effort that was capped off with a two-out grand slam from first baseman Logan Schwenke, a redshirt senior from Chandler, Arizona. From there, the Wonder Boys were able to slam the door on the Huskies in the bottom of the ninth to secure the 9-4 win. In the all important final game of the invitational, the Wonder Boys were matched up with the #9 Southern New Hampshire Penmen, losers of two straight to start the invitational.
Wonder Boys Right Fielder Keaton Ranallo, a junior from Owasso, Oklahoma, got the action started with a solo home run in both the second and fourth inning to give ATU a 2-0 lead. Cole Dawson, a sophomore from Russellville, followed Ranallo shortly after with a two-run home run of his own. The Penmen then got two runs back the following inning before the Wonder Boys answered with two runs in the sixth and one in the eighth to take a 7-2 lead. From there, the ATU bullpen was able to handle business, closing out the 7-4 rubber match victory for the Wonder Boys.
The Wonder Boys will next be in action on Feb. 9-11 when they play a four game series against the #5 nationally ranked Central Missouri Mules in Warrensburg, Missouri.
