MARSHALL, Texas – Hardin-Simmons freshman Corey Ballew hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to cap a four-run ninth and propel the Cowboys to a 7-6 win over conference leader East Texas Baptist on Friday night in Marshall.

The Cowboys trailed 4-0 going into the seventh inning when Weston Hickman scored on a wild pitch and Gannon Azios had a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-2. ETBU added a two-run home run by Christopher Robinson in the seventh to make it 6-2.

Jett Forrest cut it to 6-3 with his fifth home run of the year in the eighth inning. In the ninth, Garrett Frazier had an RBI groundout and Forrest added an RBI single to cut the deficit to 6-5. Then Ballew followed with a two-run home run to left center to give the Cowboys their first lead of the night.

Forrest had four hits for the Cowboys and Robinson led the Tigers with three knocks.

Wyatt Tumlinson started for the Cowboys and went five innings allowing four runs while striking out five. Caleb Smith worked two innings. Alex Carte worked a scoreless eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts and Caidon Livingston closed it out for his first save of the season.

Cole Godkin worked eight innings and allowed just three runs while striking out 12 for ETBU. Peyton Miller came on and allowed four runs to take the loss and fall to 0-2 on the year.

The Cowboys are now 5-5 on the year and in conference play. ETBU fell to 12-3 overall and it was their first conference loss of the season dropping to 9-1. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday.

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