LAKE WALES, Fla. - The Royals Baseball team won their first multi-game series at home this weekend after splitting Saturday's double-header with Mission University. The Royals fell in another tight battle in game 1 on Saturday 5-to-4 before taking the series winning the last game of the 4 game series in a dominant 17-to-5 win over the Patriots.
Game 1: Royals Fall 5-4
Freshman
Evan Ledoux got the Royals on the board in the 1st Inning when he recorded his 1st hit of his Collegiate Career, hitting a solo Home Run to left field to give the Royals a 1-0 lead to start the game. The Patriots came back with a run of their own to tie the game up at 1 after the 2nd Inning. Ledoux helped the Royals regain the lead in the 3rd as he drove in
Ethan Pues with a RBI Double down the left field line before coming into score later in the Inning when
Gabriel Rodriguez stole 2nd, which forced a throwing error by the Patriots catcher to get Ledoux home.
Adriel Torres-Gonzalez brought home another run in for the Royals when he hit an RBI Single up the middle to get Rodriguez home and give Warner a 4-to-1 lead. Mission slowly chipped away at the Royals lead before taking the lead in the 5th and would eventually walk away with a 5-to-4 win.
Harper McLendon got the start for the Royals in Saturday's 1st game and pitched 3.0 Innings while allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and struck out 3 in the no decision.
Warner Stat Leaders - Game 1
HRs: Evan Ledoux - 1
(1st of Collegiate Career)
Hits: Evan Ledoux - 2
RBI's: Evan Ledoux - 2
Stolen Bases: Carlito Collins - 2
Strikeouts Thrown: Harper McLendon - 3
Game 2: Royals Win 17-5
After a quiet Inning and a half the Royals offense exploded as they sent 15 Royals to the plate and drove in 9 runs in the 2nd Inning, which is the most runs scored in a single Inning for the Royals so far this season. There were 8 different Royals that drove in the 9 runs during the Inning to give Warner a 9-to-0 lead heading into the 3rd. Mission was able to chip away at the Royals lead in the 3rd and 5th Innings to bring the score to 9-to-5. The Royals refused to allow the Patriots to get back into the game as they scored 4 more runs in the 5th and another 4 runs in the 6th to take the final game of the series by a score of 17-to-5. The win marked the 1st multi-game home series win for the Royals and brings the team to an 11-7 overall record.
JD Swarbrick had a great day at the plate hitting 3 doubles, 2 of which came during the Royals massive 2nd Inning, while driving in 2 RBI's and scoring 2 runs in the win. Swarbrick's 3 hits and 3 doubles are both single game highs as a Royal for the Senior. Four other Royals also drove in 2 RBIs in the win including
Jhenzel Figueroa,
Gabriel Rodriguez,
Adriel Torres-Gonzalez, and
Horiam Santiago. Saturday's win was also the 1st time this season that the Royals hit 5 Doubles in a single game, 3 of which came off the bat of Swarbrick, while the other 2 were hit by
Francis Alberto and
Ethan Pues.
Gage Allen earned his 2nd win of the week and year on Saturday as the transfer Junior pitched 4 and a third Innings. Allen struck out 3 Patriots while allowing only 3 earned runs on 8 hits in the win.
Evan Christ came out of the bullpen to finish up the game throwing a stellar 2.2 Innings in relief. The Sophomore struckout 2 and allowed only 2 baserunners, 1 hit and 1 walk, while preventing any runs from scoring to close out the series win for the Royals.
Warner will look to build off this weekend's performance when they continue their 10 game homestand next week with a 3 game series against Morningside.
Warner Stat Leaders - Game 2
Hits: JD Swarbrick - 3
(3 Doubles)
RBI's: 5 Royals had 2 RBIs each
Stolen Bases: Jhenzel Figueroa - 2
Strikeouts Thrown: Gage Allen - 3
Up Next:
The Royals will host
Morningside University (Iowa) for a 3 Game Series with game 1 scheduled for a
6:00pm start on
Thursday, March 5th. Game 2 and 3 will be part of a double-header on
Friday, March 6th with the first game scheduled for
4:00pm and the second for
7:00pm.
#GodBlessGoRoyals | #TogetherAsOne
