The East Texas Pump Jacks defended their home field on Sunday night as they beat the Victoria Generals 8-3 at Driller Park in Kilgore to split the two-game series.
After working his way out of trouble in the first and second innings, Generals starting pitcher J.P. Clifton allowed a run on an RBI fielder’s choice ground out in the third inning to give the Pump Jacks a 1-0 lead.
The Generals grabbed a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning. Kaleb Keith, who was making his first start of the season in the Generals lineup as the designated hitter, came into score on a wild pitch after leading off the inning with a walk. Aaron Morgan came around to score on an RBI ground out by J.D. Arrowood. Alvaro Rondon then smacked an RBI single up the middle to plate Drew Featherston.
The Pump Jacks responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the fifth inning to take the lead at 4-3. Clifton allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings with five strikeouts as he took the loss.
Keith came into pitch in the sixth inning and allowed four runs in the inning as the Pump Jacks extended their lead to 8-3.
Rondon led the way for the Generals offensively in the game, going 2-for-4 out of the nine-hole with an RBI.
With the loss, the Generals fall to 22-21 on the season and 5-8 in the second-half. The Pump Jacks improve to 21-22 overall and 6-7 in the second-half.
The Generals will have the day off on Monday before traveling to Lafayette, Louisiana on Tuesday to take on the Acadiana Cane Cutters in a two-game series. The Generals next home game is Thursday, July 25 against the Brazos Valley Bombers at 7:05pm at Riverside Stadium in Victoria.
Box Score: http://tcl-generals.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=139754
