Suns Sweep Lions for 9th Win in Last 10 Games
DALLAS – The sun is shining around Dallas College Cedar Valley baseball these days.
Cedar Valley completed the sweep of Dallas College Mountain View Friday, 13-3, in seven innings in a week 18-year head coach Robert Dally won his 400th game.
"I think the boys are just starting to get comfortable," Dally said after the Suns improved to 27-21 overall, 9-15 in the Dallas Athletic Conference to move within two games of third place.
The Suns scored seven runs in the second inning, and tacked on five more in the fifth on a day the weather kept pushing the start time back to coast to their fifth consecutive win and ninth in the last 10.
Cedar Valley pounded 16 hits, marking the third straight in the series the Suns had double-digit base knocks. It was also their second run-rule victory in the series, having won the opener, 15-5, two days earlier.
Jacob Cueva and Aiden Hatton had three hits apiece, with Hatton driving in four runs and Cueva doubling twice. Hayden Carpenter and Nathan Tucker both went 2-for-4, and Daniel Brandon III was 2-for-5. Carpenter had two RBI, and Brandon one.
It was the second time in the series Hatton had three hits. He drove in 11 runs in the series.
"I'm a little bit excited that the bats are starting to come alive," Dally said. "Hopefully we just keep rolling."
Keller Thompson improved to 6-3 on the mound, allowing three unearned runs on five hits and three walks, and struck out five. Ethan Thompson-Nguyen shut down the Lions in the seventh, punching out two of the three batters he faced.
"We've had to mix and match some of our bullpen," Dally said. "Ethan Thompson-Nguyen, Caleb Bustillos and Avery Dubose, those three guys have stepped up recently."
Cedar Valley begins a three-game series at Dallas College Brookhaven – one of two teams it is chasing for third place – Wednesday at noon. The Suns will host the final two games of the series.
"I am excited about where we're going," Dally said. "I actually think we're going to be a hard team to beat in a single-elimination game. They're just playing good baseball. I think they're on a run."