Cowboys Win Series Opener With HPU
| Final (10) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Payne (14-22, 7-12) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 3 |
| Hardin-Simmons (17-18, 10-9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| @ Abilene, Texas | Hunter Field | |||||||||||||
| Pitching |
|---|
| Win: James Simmons (5-2) - Hardin-Simmons |
| Loss: Carlton Brown (1-6) - Howard Payne |
| Howard Payne Batting |
|---|
| 2B: Carlton Brown; Ben Butler |
| 3B: Ryan Abbott |
| HR: none |
| Hardin-Simmons Batting |
|---|
| 2B: Andrew Rehling |
| 3B: none |
| HR: none |
ABILENE, Texas — Marcus Uechi had a walkoff sacrifice fly to lift Hardin-Simmons past Howard Payne 5-4 in 10 innings in American Southwest Conference baseball action at Hunter Field on Friday night.
Howard Payne took an early 1-0 lead on an RBI double by Carlton Brown in the first inning. HPU made it 3-0 in the fourth with a pair of runs. Jordan Hammontree had an RBI single and another run scored on an error.
HSU scored two times in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by Andrew Rehling and an RBI single by Chris Matthews. HSU tied the game in the sixth on an RBI double by Matthews.
HPU scored a run in the eighth inning on an RBI double by Ryan Abbott. HSU responded to tie the game in the eighth when Rehling scored on an error when Howard Payne tried to cut him down at third on a sacrifice bunt. The throw went to left field allowing him to score.
In the 10th inning, Matthews led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on a Joey Dearing sac bunt. Troy Nicholson was intentionally walked and Jon Finney singled to right to load the bases. Uechi then flied to medium depth right field and Hammontree's throw to the plate was well high and Matthews raced home with the winning run.
Both starters were good but would not factor in the decision. Corey Howie went seven and one-third innings and allowed three earned runs for HPU, while striking out six. Troy Nicholson went six plus innings scattering nine hits and allowing just one earned run with six strikeouts.
James Simmons was brilliant out of the HSU bullpen. He allowed one run on two hits in four innings and struck out six to improve to 5-2. Carlton Brown allowed one run in two and one-third innings to take the loss and fall to 1-6.
Matthews had three hits for the Cowboys and Hammontree had three hits to pace HPU.
The Cowboys are now 17-18 on the year and 10-9 in ASC West action. Howard Payne fell to 14-22 overall and 7-12 in league play. The teams will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader on senior day Saturday.
HSU is currently tied with Mary Hardin-Baylor for fourth place in the ASC West after the Cru beat McMurry 6-0 on Friday night. McMurry is one game ahead of HSU and Mary Hardin-Baylor in third place.
--- HSU ---
