Roadrunners Clinch Third Seed With DH Sweep Of Paris

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AC’s Bats Drive Team into Conference Tournament

Cort McPherson of Angelina College leans into his two-run homer in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader against Paris College. The Roadrunners clinched the East Zone’s third seed with a 7-5, 15-9 sweep at Roadrunner Field. (AC Press photo by Gary Stallard)
Cort McPherson of Angelina College leans into his two-run homer in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader against Paris College. The Roadrunners clinched the East Zone’s third seed with a 7-5, 15-9 sweep at Roadrunner Field. (AC Press photo by Gary Stallard)

Angelina College’s Roadrunners closed out the regular season at home on Saturday with a bang – a whole lot of them.

Needing one win in two tries in the day’s twin bill with Paris College to lock down the East Zone’s third seed for the upcoming conference tournament, the Roadrunners eliminated the drama early with a 7-5 win in the opener, following that with a 15-9 win in the nightcap at Roadrunner Field.

Cort McPherson ripped a two-run homer in the first game and followed up with a two-run triple in the late one. Alex Walker added a three-run shot in the late win to help break open a 9-9 tie.

AC trailed 1-0 when McPherson followed Dustin West’s long double off the wall with his seventh homer of the season, launching the ball over the right-field wall.

In the fourth inning, AC’s Chris Estrada drove home two more runs with a bloop double, scoring ahead of Mitch Henshaw’s two-bagger to the wall in left center.

 Third baseman Chris Estrada fires the ball across the infield after fielding a ground ball during Saturday’s doubleheader with Paris College. The Roadrunners clinched the East Zone’s third seed with a 7-5, 15-9 sweep at Roadrunner Field. (AC Press photo by Gary Stallard)
Third baseman Chris Estrada fires the ball across the infield after fielding a ground ball during Saturday’s doubleheader with Paris College. The Roadrunners clinched the East Zone’s third seed with a 7-5, 15-9 sweep at Roadrunner Field. (AC Press photo by Gary Stallard)

McPherson added another RBI in the sixth with a hit-and-run single, and AC led 7-2 heading into the seventh.

Paris put a scare into the home crowd by scoring three runs in the top of the inning, cutting the ‘Runners’ lead to two at 7-5; but reliever Jared Velasco came on to record the final out to leave AC with the third seed.

Carson Lance earned the win on the mound after allowing two runs over his five innings of work.

The team celebrated Sophomore Day prior to the first game, recognizing those Roadrunners appearing in their final home games. Those included Zach Rome, Dustin West, Alex Walker, Elijah Rodriguez, Daniel Lingua, Reid Garrett, Cort McPherson, Cameron Williams, Chris Estrada, Kevin Roe, Carson Lance and Mitch Henshaw.

The tentative bracket for the Region XIV Conference Tournament has AC facing Alvin College at 1 p.m. on Friday. The tournament takes place at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.

The e-mail address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.

Gary Stallard
Sports Information Director Gary Stallard, who also serves as a Liberal Arts Instructor, begins his eleventh season with Angelina College. Following a career as a U.S. Marine, Stallard completed his bachelor’s degree at Stephen F. Austin University, where he majored in English and Journalism. For more than 16 years, he has worked as a sports writer/columnist/photographer for the Lufkin Daily News; he continues to contribute free-lance articles on occasion. Stallard has won several awards for writing, including the Golden Hoops Award for basketball writing in 2003, Regional Sports Writer of the Year in 2004, and the Texas Press Association’s first-place award for column writing in 2007 and in 2014. He has also done basketball, football and baseball radio and live streaming play-by- play and color commentary for an ESPN affiliate. Currently Stallard serves as play-by-play broadcaster for AC basketball, baseball and softball games. Prior to arriving at Angelina College, Stallard taught English at Lufkin High School for four years. He currently teaches Developmental Writing classes at AC. He and his wife Susan live in Lufkin.

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