North Texas managed to stay closer to the Brazos Valley Bombers on the field than the visitors are in the standings, but the substantial gap between the teams grew slightly Tuesday night.
Texas Collegiate League leader Brazos Valley managed a victory and settled for a tie in a doubleheader against the last-place Copperheads at Brazos Valley Bank Ballpark. The Bombers took the opener 2-1, rewarding pitcher Brian Borski for his tidy three-hitter by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The second game ended in a 3-3 tie after 11 innings, halted at 12:10 a.m. because of the league rule that prohibits innings to begin after midnight.
Brazos Valley moved to 27-15-1 on the season. The Copperheads dropped to 10-25-1.
The Bombers will visit the Texas Tomcats on Wednesday.
Late-afternoon rain delayed the start of the first game, and the Copperheads' beginning was messy as the puddles outside their dugout. The Bombers got a first-inning gift when first baseman Drew Harrison botched a routine bouncer off the bat of Isaac Nuti, who scored an unearned run on a double to left-center by Casey Dykes.
Borski, who pitches for Texas State, blanked the Copperheads until the fifth. A leadoff walk to No. 8 batter Taylor Mabra came back to haunt Borski when Marcellous Biggins bounced an RBI single up the middle with two outs.
The game was scheduled for seven innings instead of nine because of the rare doubleheader, and the Copperheads threatened in the top of the seventh. North Texas put the first two batters on base with an error and a walk, but BV first baseman Jacob House delivered back-to-back defensive gems and Borski struck out Biggins to strand runners at second and third.
Borski improved to 7-2 as he struck out seven and walked three. Only one of the North Texas hits made it out of the infield.
The Bombers' sleepy offense came alive in the bottom of the seventh against NT reliever Michael Apple, who replaced starter Tyler Mapes in the sixth. Apple led Richland College with an 8-3 record, a 3.81 earned run average and seven complete games in 13 starts this year as a freshman and he drew the attention of Texas A&M coach Rob Childress, who clocked Apple's pitches with a radar gun from behind home plate.
Apple (0-1) began his own demise by walking No. 9 batter Rodarrick Jones on four pitches to open the seventh. Morgan Mickan reached when catcher Zac Russell made a late throw to second base on Mickan's sacrifice bunt, and the Bombers loaded the bases on Nuti's perfectly placed bunt single near the third-base line.
Dykes lined an 0-1 pitch to the opposite field, sending a one-hopper past the diving first baseman to end the game.
In the nightcap, the Bombers scored two runs in the first inning on RBI singles by Wes Patterson and House. The Copperheads took their first lead of the night with three runs in the fourth, getting an RBI triple from Garrett Autrey and a two-run single from Harrison, who entered the game in place of Sam Wernick, who was ejected after arguing with the home plate umpire after striking out in the previous inning.
The Bombers tied the game with an unlikely run in the sixth. With two outs, House reached on a broken-bat bloop hit. BV loaded the bases on an infield single by Brennyn Smith and a walk to Josh McElroy.
NT coach Barry Rose called on lefty reliever Brantley Freeman to face left-handed hitting Justin Padron, who was playing in only his fourth game and was hitless in 10 at-bats for the season. Padron coaxed a seven-pitch walk to force in House and make it 3-3.
The home team had a chance complete the comeback in the seventh after Greg Olson drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nuti. However, reliever Andrew Rehling took over for Freeman and retired the Nos. 3 and 4 hitters to send the game to extra innings.
Both teams wasted scoring chances in extra innings. NT got a runner to third in the eighth and 10th, but BV reliever Matt Passauer escaped both jams with strikeouts. The Copperheads also left a man at second base in the 11th.
The Bombers got the potential winning run to second in the 10th when Dykes doubled with one out. BV could not capitalize on a leadoff single by Smith in the 11th.