Generals Take Down Cane Cutters for 2024 Texas Collegiate League Title
August 3, 2024 – The Victoria Generals captured the 2024 Texas Collegiate League crown as they defeated the Acadiana Cane Cutters 8-2 at Riverside Stadium on Saturday. The league title is the third in the Generals’ history and the first since 2018. Victoria’s win avenges a 6-5 loss to Acadiana in the 2022 TCL Championship.
Texas State DH Travis Bragg and UT-Tyler 3B Drew Schmidt anchored the Generals’ lineup with two hits apiece, making up half of the team’s eight hits. Both players recorded a double as Schmidt added two walks and scored a run while also driving one in. Bragg raised his league-leading batting average to .373. UT-Tyler CF Connor Clark recorded two runs batted in, and Houston SS Anthony Avalos and Austin Peay RF Cameron Nickens each scored two runs.
UT-Tyler RHP Julio Garcia came home with the win after 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing just one hit with four walks and five strikeouts. UT-Tyler LHP Miles Clack started the night with 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks with a pair of punchouts. Lamar RHP Zach Ryan closed out the night with a scoreless ninth inning featuring a walk and a strikeout.
Louisiana Christian RHP Kade Linn was saddled with the loss after surrendering two earned runs and one unearned run in three innings on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
Acadiana took an early 2-0 lead in the second frame thanks to a two-run double from John Melvin C Trevor Durr. Victoria cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame after Schmidt’s RBI sacrifice fly. The Generals knotted the score in the third with the help of an error by the Cane Cutters.
It was all Victoria the rest of the way. Schmidt’s RBI single in the seventh put the Generals ahead, 3-2. They put up a five-spot in the eighth inning for key insurance runs, beginning with an Acadiana error that allowed Houston-Victoria C Hal Perez to score. Clark followed with a two-run double before Nickens plated a run with a double. UTSA 2B Diego Diaz knocked in a run with an RBI sacrifice fly to round out the scoring.
The Generals will return to Riverside Stadium next summer for the organization’s 17th season. Thank you to all the players, coaches, employees and fans that made this summer memorable!
