(Bryan) — The Seguin River Monsters are your 2023 Texas Collegiate League Champions.
Seguin beat the Brazos Valley Bombers 3-1 Saturday night in Bryan in the TCL Championship Game. Navarro High School grad Jaxen Monkerud started the game, picking up the win by tossing five shutout innings before giving way to three relievers who kept the Bombers at bay as the Monsters earned their first TCL championship in their second season.
Seguin got all of their runs in the top of the fifth. Xavier Arias started the inning with a single. Groundouts by Damian Rodriguez and Connor Kaiser advanced Arias to third base. After a Nyan Hayes walk, Garret Felix would double to drive in Arias with the first run of the game. Alex Gonzalez would follow with a double to drive in Hayes and Felix to make the score 3-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Bombers got two runners on with one out but Monkerud was able to get a strikeout and a flyout to escape damage and end his night on the hill. River Monster coach Tony Perez would go to his bullpen to preserve the lead. Monkerud finished the game with three strikeouts while surrendering only three hits in five scoreless innings.
Relievers Daelen Caraway, Zach Boyer and Dalton Buckingham combined to go the final four innings in the championship victory. Buckingham, a Texas State junior, threw 2.1 scoreless innings to earn the save for Seguin.
The River Monsters got to the championship game by beating the Victoria Generals in the TCL semifinals, two games to one.