T-Birds take two from No. 16 Howard thanks to Vega HR in 9th

BIG SPRING, Texas — The New Mexico Junior College baseball team appeared it was going to have to settle for a split in its four-game series with No. 16 Howard College after watching the Hawks rally from an 8-6 deficit to take a 10-8 lead late in game two Saturday.

The Thunderbirds cut the deficit to 10-9, but were down to their final strike in the ninth with two on and Angel Vega at the plate.

However, one swing by the sophomore changed everything.

Vega lined a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall for a three-run home run to give NMJC a 12-10 advantage and it held on to sweep the doubleheader against the Hawks in Big Spring, Texas.

The T-Birds (26-12, 15-5), who won game one 2-1, now own a one-game lead over Howard (26-11, 14-6) and Midland College (19-14, 14-6) in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference after taking three of four from the Hawks this weekend.

The rally in the ninth started when Howard walked JP Rousseau, Luis Pintor and Branden Grieger to load the bases with no outs.

But a fly ball to center by Travon Benton led to Rousseau being thrown out at home for two outs and two on.

Jacy Cave kept the NMJC rally alive when he singled to score Pintor to make it 10-9 and bring up Vega.

After fouling off three pitches and taking two balls, Vega drilled the sixth pitch of the at-bat over the fence in left to give the T-Birds a 12-10 lead.

Closer Brett Worthen did the rest for NMJC, shutting down Howard's last threat to pick up his third win of the season.

Cave went 3-for-4 in the game with a double and RBI while Rousseau, Vega, Austin Botello and Zac Sanders had two hits apiece. Benton was 1-for-3 with a home run and four RBI.

Alec Maley got the loss for Howard, going an inning and giving up three runs on two hits with one walk and no strikeouts.

Ryan McCarvel led Howard at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI.

The first game had a much different tone as NMJC's Fernando Fernandez-Beltran and Howard's Brandon Maine kept the opposing bats in check for much of the game.

NMJC fell behind 1-0 in the first but rallied to take the lead for good with two runs in the second thanks to RBI singles by Botello and Rousseau.

Fernandez-Beltran did the rest as the lefty went the distance and gave up a run on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.

NMJC finished with seven hits from seven different players in the game.

Maine got the loss for the Hawks, going 5.1 innings and giving up two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

NMJC hosts Odessa College in a non-WJCAC game 2 p.m. Wednesday.