Game 1
Game 2
ABILENE, Texas — It took over six hours
to accomplish it, but Hardin-Simmons' baseball team swept an
American Southwest Conference doubleheader against Howard Payne,
16-15 and 5-4, with a pair of walkoff wins Saturday afternoon at
Hunter Field in Abilene.
The Cowboys won all three games in the series with runs in their
final at-bat. In the second game on Saturday, Matt Roam spiked a
single through the infield and came around to score on a Regan
Dixon double to left center to give HSU a 5-4 win.
Tim Kriegel had another solid outing for the Cowboys to improve to
5-3 on the year. He went the distance and struck out eight. Blake
Shaffer got a ball in the 30 mph wind that was blowing out to right
for a three-run home run in the third and Kyle Loyd had an RBI
double in that inning.
Other than that, the only one time did HPU get a runner to third
in the game and that was in the second with nobody out when Shaffer
doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. Kriegel then got a
pop-up, a groundout and strikeout to leave him stranded. He allowed
only four hits in the game and none after the third.
HSU had jumped to a 3-0 lead with three runs in the first. James
Gage had a two-run double with the bases loaded and Michael Morgan
had a sacrifice fly. The Cowboys came back from a 4-3 deficit in
the third with a solo home run by Matt Roam to lead off the
inning.
Roam and Gage each had two hits for the Cowboys. Evan Henson went
the distance and allowed eight hits and five runs for HPU to fall
to 3-3.
In the first game, the Cowboys overcame a 13-6 sixth inning
deficit with a nine-run sixth to take a 15-13 lead. HPU tied the
game with two runs in the top of the seventh inning and HSU won the
game with a run in the bottom of the ninth. The game was originally
scheduled for seven innings.
HPU scored five runs in the top of the first inning off Cowboy
starter Eric Roten. They had five hits in the inning and the
Cowboys had two errors. Shaffer had an RBI double, Garrett Isom had
a sacrifice fly and Ryan Breeding had a two-run home run.
Regan Dixon hit his 11th home run of the season in the bottom of
the first for HSU. HPU added two runs in the second to chase Roten.
Jordan Hammontree had an RBI single and Isom had an RBI single.
The Cowboys cut the deficit to 7-5 with four runs in the third.
Dixon had a two-run double and Gage hit a two-run home run to
right. Isom had a two-run homer to right field in the fourth to
make it 9-5 and manufactured a run in the fifth with Dustin Climer
driving in the run with a sacrifice fly.
Taylor Berlin had an RBI single in the fifth for the Cowboys and
HPU made it 13-6 with three runs in the sixth. Shaffer had an RBI
single and Cale Thompson had a two-run single to center.
The first nine batters of the sixth inning scored for the Cowboys.
Kevin Ellison led off being hit by a pitch, Brian Weeks doubled and
Matt Roam reached on a throwing error by Thompson. Dixon then had a
double to right, Armstrong was hit by a pitch, Gage had an RBI
single to center, Bryan Blare walked, and Berlin cleared the bases
with a double to center. Jaxon Jordan had an RBI single to right
and Roam had a sacrifice fly.
Taylor Zambreski had a two-run two-out double in the top of the
seventh for HPU off HSU reliever Kyle Barton.
Barton then closed the door in the eighth and ninth and HSU scored
in the bottom of the ninth for the win. With two outs, Kyle Post
singled, Michael Morgan walked and Brian Weeks singled home Post to
give the Cowboys the win.
Barton got the win in relief with three innings of work. He is now
7-0 on the year. Jimmy May took the loss for Howard Payne, as the
teams combined to use 11 pitchers in the game.
Dixon, Gage, Berlin and Sam Walker each had three hits for the
Cowboys and Dixon and Berlin each drove in four runs. Zambreski had
four hits for HPU.
The Cowboys are now 19-13 on the year and 10-5 in league play and
HPU is 12-18 overall and 5-10 in league play. HSU plays Austin
College at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
