Angelina College lefty Ryan Bonnott delivers to the plate during Tuesday’s opener with Alvin. The Roadrunners earned a split with the Dolphins, winning the nightcap 3-1 after falling 10-8 in the opener. (AC Press Photo)

            After coming up about 10 feet short of a walk-off win in the opener, the Angelina College Roadrunners bounced back in the nightcap with a Lott of solid pitching.

            Sophomore lefthander D.D. Lott pitched five strong innings for AC, retiring 12 in a row at one point, and his offense backed him with a three-run fourth to give the Roadrunners a 3-1 win in Game 2 of the doubleheader.

            Lott struck out three, walked two and didn’t allow an Alvin run in his five frames of work. After giving up a leadoff triple to Blake Marchal to open the game, Lott retired the next 12, getting eight of those outs on fly outs and pop ups.

            Lott’s run support came in the fourth inning, with Grant Clyde reaching on an infield error and Ryan Gunhouse lining a single to right. Todd Wallace doubled over the third-base bag to drive in a run, Kenny Allison singled up the middle to score Gunhouse and Wallace scored on another Alvin error.

            Those three runs were plenty for Lott, who earned the win, and John Gaeke, who picked up the save with two innings of work. Gaeke gave up a solo homer to Chance Leissner for Alvin’s only run of the game.

            In the opener, the Dolphins used a seven-run fourth inning to take the win. Forrest Allday’s three-run triple and Even Frazer’s three-run homer were the big blows; Frazer also had a solo shot in the second inning to finish with four RBIs.

            Nevertheless, Ryan Gunhouse etched his name in the AC record books with the first-ever Roadrunner homer at the new field. Gunhouse, the freshman from Clear Creek, yanked a two-run shot over the left-field wall to give the ‘Runners a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, accounting for two of his three RBIs in the game.

            Following Alvin’s big fourth inning, AC rallied with a four-run fifth, with Greg Garcia, Grant Clyde and Kyler Crenshaw driving in runs for the ‘Runners. Reliever Ryan Bonnott, who entered the game in the fourth, pitched a scoreless 3 2/3 innings to keep the Roadrunners in contention.

            AC loaded the bases with two outs in the last half of the seventh, and Kenny Allison brought the crowd to its feet with a long drive to right field that came up just a few feet shy of a game-winning grand slam. Instead, the Roadrunners dropped their second loss of the young season.

            They evened their record at 2-2 with the win in the late game.

            The Roadrunners will host McLennan on Saturday as part of the Grand Opening Ceremonies scheduled for both AC baseball and AC softball. Ceremonies for each game will take place 15 minutes prior to game time. The Lady Roadrunners host Bossier Parish at 1 p.m., and the Roadrunners will host McLennan at 2 p.m.