Strykers: Late rally comes up short

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – As they did Tuesday night, the Woodlands Strykers rallied late. Only on Wednesday, the rally fell short and the McKinney Marshals came away with a split of their two game series by holding of the Strykers 7-5.

Rain and wet grounds forced the start of Wednesday’s game to be delayed by more than two hours and shortened it to a seven-inning affair.

A six-run third inning made the difference for McKinney (13-28). A three-run double and later a three-run homer did the damage.

The Strykers answered McKinney’s run in the top of the first inning with two in their half of the frame. Gabe Fyock and Garrett Lozano reached by error and single respectively to open the inning. They scored on a sacrifice fly by Carter Burgess and an error.

Michael Aquino belted his league-leading seventh homer, a solo shot in the sixth inning, to make it a 7-3 game. Aquino also leads the Texas Collegiate League with a .333 (44-for-132) batting average and is second in the league with 29 RBI, five behind Brazos Valley’s Braden Mattson.

The Strykers added two more runs in their final at-bat. Shaun Hoover doubled and scored before Lozano doubled and scored on an RBI single from Rickey Sanchez, who collected three of the Strykers’ nine hits.

Brian Brightwell and Michael Molina also added a hit apiece for the Strykers.

Richard Bautista worked four innings in relief, allowing three hits and one run. He struck out eight of the 16 batters he faced before Kael Jones pitched a perfect final inning. Starter Talan Roepcke (1-3) yielded three hits and six runs, five were earned.

The Strykers (13-28) conclude their three-game homestand at 7:05 p.m. Thursday when they host the Alexandria Aces (20-23).