ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' baseball team dropped a pair of games to UT Dallas falling, 9-6 and 8-6 on Monday at Hunter Field in Abilene.

Game 1

The Comets scored three times in the first inning on an RBI groundout by Marcos Villegas, an RBI single by Hunter Cheek and another run on an error.

HSU scored a run in the bottom of the first on a Garrett Frazier double. Andrew Skivington had an RBI double in the third and Ramon Garza a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to give UTD a 5-1 lead.

The Cowboys scored a pair of runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to 5-3 on RBI singles by Sam Buchkowski and Brayden Martin.

UTD got the big blow of the game with two outs in the sixth when Villegas hit a grand slam to make it 9-3. HSU added three runs in the seventh on a Frazier sacrifice fly, a home run by Jett Forrest and a Corey Ballew RBI single.

Ballew and Keaton Hartman had two hits for the Cowboys and four different Comets had two hits each and Villegas drove in five runs.

Grant Mitzelfelt took the loss on the mound allowing four earned runs over five and one-third innings to fall to 2-1. Caleb Smith and Alex Carte worked out of the bullpen. Dylan Hugley started and went four innings to get the win. Jake Jennings and Jacob Good worked in relief.

Game 2

HSU was in command of game two as the Cowboys led 4-0 after six innings. Forrest had a solo home run in the fourth, Gannon Azios hit a long home run in the fifth and Forrest and Ballew scored on wild pitches in the sixth.

Brandon Girod deserved a better fate as he was dealing through six innings of work with a one-hit shutout working. In the seventh, A.J. Liu singled to lead off the inning and Villegas was hit by a pitch and Skivington walked to load the bases. Girod then got a pop up on the infield and Zach Sanchez hit a fly ball to center field that was going to be a sacrifice fly but it was dropped allowing a run to score. Deylan Moreno then was walked to force in a run ending Girod's day. Then Kegan Vance singled to left and the ball got past for a two-base error and all three runners came in to score giving the Comets a 5-4 lead.

HSU scored twice in the eighth to retake the lead at 6-5. Ellington had an RBI double and Hartamn scored on a wild pitch.

The Comets retook the lead in the ninth. Deylan Moreno singled to right center and Zach Sanchez was being held but the ball was bobbled in right allowing Sanchez to score to tie the game. Garza followed with an RBI double and Villegas added an RBI single.

Forrest had two hits for HSU and Villegas and Vance had two hits for UTD.

Jaydon Stephens took the loss. He allowed three runs in two and one-third innings of relief. Girod allowed five runs (three earned) allowing just hits over six and one-third innings. Kolten Kitchens got the last out for the Cowboys. Orion Drymond pitched the ninth for his fourth save of the year for UTD and Ben Soule won in relief.

The Cowboys are now 4-5 overall and in conference play. UTD improved to 10-0 on the year and 6-0 in ASC action. HSU plays at East Texas Baptist this weekend and the Tigers are 9-0 in conference play.

--- www.hsuathletics.com ---