No. 15 Jags romp way to doubleheader sweep of OLLU

They say patience is a virtue.

It's also something UHV baseball head coach Jonathan Stavinoha wants his team to use, especially at the plate.

The Jaguars did just that to plate 26 runs across two games in a doubleheader sweep of Our Lady of the Lake University, 14-1 and 12-2, on Saturday at Riverside Stadium to push their winning streak to seven games. UHV had 22 hits, 15 of which came in Game 1, and 20 walks between the two games.

"Even the walks weren't free in both games," Stavinoha said. "We worked the counts. When we got behind, we didn't give up. We weren't going to just roll over. We weren't going to strike out. We kept fouling off balls and made them throw pitches. I'm really happy with the way the guys played."

It was a pair of explosive fourth innings that helped lift the Jaguars (32-7, 19-4) to their first series win over the Saints (19-19, 12-8) since 2016.

UHV plated eight runs in the fourth inning of Game 1 as part of a stretch of 14 unanswered runs after OLLU opened the scoring in the first.

A pair of two-run singles from Hal Perez and Jackson Purcell highlighted the frame which saw 12 UHV batters come to the plate. Terry Burrel III, Kyle Barosh and DeeAndre Torres also had RBIs in the inning.

It was a nine-run fourth in Game 2 that blew the game open for UHV with 15 batters coming to the plate. The Jaguars scored those nine runs on four hits, an error and seven walks – four of which came with the bases loaded.

Purcell finished Game 1 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and extended his hitting streak to seven games with knocks in both games. He was one of eight UHV starters to notch a hit in Game 1.

"Stav has just been preaching to stay back up the middle and stay in our approach, to not do too much," Purcell said. "One through nine today just kept it simple and drew a bunch of walks. It was good."

UHV saw two dominant pitching performances from junior Brady Parker and senior Jonathan Jones as they improved to 7-1 and 8-1 on the mound, respectively.

Parker struck out 10 batters and let up just the one run over six innings to earn the win on the hill. With 97 strikeouts now, Parker is the lone NAIA leader in strikeouts with 97.

"All of my pitches were working," Parker said. "They were hunting the fastball early, so I had to make adjustments. My other pitches were working, so I was able to throw them an extra bit to where I could really throw whatever I wanted."

For the second consecutive start, Jones took a no-hitter into the late innings after working 5.2 innings with a no-hitter before the Saints finally broke up the no-no. He finished with just two runs allowed on two hits with five strikeouts.

"Honestly, I was really happy with my performance," Jones said. "I was just feeding off my starter in Game 1, Brady. At the end of the day, my job is to go out there and do the same. I feel like I did that."

The Jaguars are the designated visitor for this series, which was moved from San Antonio to Victoria due to inclement weather in San Antonio, meaning UHV was batting first on Saturday.

It was admittedly a strange sight for Stavinoha and the Jaguars, but a fun one as Stavinoha said.

"It was different, especially that first inning," Stavinoha said. "We got to get going right away (offensively) and didn't have to wait around. We got to put our foot on the pedal from the get go and that was really the only difference. After that, you just settle in and play baseball. But that first inning was definitely different."

The two teams will wrap up the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Riverside Stadium and admission is free for the game.