Game 1
Game 2
ABILENE, Texas — Hardin-Simmons' baseball team split
with Texas Lutheran on Saturday, winning 8-2 in the first game and
falling 4-1 in the second, to finish the regular season as the No.
2 seed in the American Southwest Conference West Division.
The Cowboys finished the year tied with McMurry at 14-7 in the
conference standings, but owned the tiebreaker with a head-to-head
series win earlier in the year. Texas Lutheran won the West
division outright with a 16-5 record in league play.
In the first game senior Kyle Barton was spectacular in his final
regular-season home appearance. He went the distance and struck out
seven batters, while allowing only two earned runs. He gave up a
home run to lead off the first and faced the minimum over the next
15 batters. The only batter to reach was Andrew Femath in the
fourth and he was erased on a double play. Ryan Nokelby had a
two-out RBI single for TLU in the sixth for the only other run in
the game.
The Cowboys chased Texas Lutheran starter Logan Hull in the first
inning with five runs. Brian Weeks led off with a walk and Matt
Roam singled through the left side. Regan Dixon followed with an
RBI single to center. J.T. Armstrong was hit to load the bases.
After a popout, Taylor Berlin walked to force in a run and then
Jaxon Jordan had a two-run single and Kevin Ellison walked to chase
Hull. Weeks reached on an infield single to shortstop to drive in a
run.
HSU added a run in the second when Gage reached on a
fielder's choice with one out, stole second, moved to third
on a wild pitch and scored on a Berlin single. The Cowboys made it
8-1 in the fifth on a two-run single by Dixon.
Barton moved to 9-0 with the win and he tied Shawn Bigham for the
single-season school record with nine wins. Hull fell to 1-5 for
Texas Lutheran. Dixon paced the Cowboys with three hits in a 10-hit
attack and he drove in three runs.
In the second game, Jeremy Macklin was dominant for the Bulldogs.
He went the distance allowing just four hits and one earned run,
while striking out eight to improve to 5-1 on the year. Tim Kriegel
was a hard-luck loser for the Cowboys as he allowed four runs on
seven hits over six and one-third innings. Michael Reinhardt went
two and two-third innings of perfect relief for the Cowboys.
HSU took advantage of two walks and hit batsmen in the second
inning to plate a run. Jordan had a sacrifice fly to drive in
Armstrong for the Cowboys only run.
The game remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth when Kriegel hit
Joe Gentry and walked Clay Childress to lead off the inning. Chris
Siniff bunted the runners over and Chris Green drove home Gentry
with a sacrifice fly and Andrew Femath had an RBI single to
center.
In the sixth, Macklin led off with a double and Farr followed with
a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Gentry had a
sacrifice fly before Kriegel worked out of the jam. In the seventh
Harvey walked, stole second and scored on a Nokelby single to
center.
The Cowboys moved to 24-16 on the year and Texas Lutheran is now
28-12. HSU will host Texas-Dallas in the ASC Tournament
Championship Series beginning next Friday at 7 p.m.
--- HSU ---
