AUSTIN, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' baseball team dropped a pair of games on opening day at the Concordia Invitational at Gardner-Boggs Field in Austin, falling 4-3 to George Fox and 10-8 to Concordia.  

In the first game of the day, George Fox scored a run in the bottom of the first and three more in the bottom of the third to take a 4-0 lead. HSU pitching allowed just two runners the rest of the game.

The Cowboys chipped away at the deficit with single runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. Sam Buchkowski had an RBI single in the fourth, Colby Seltzer an RBI single in the fifth and Jett Forrest drove home a run on a fielder's choice in the seventh.

HSU had chances to take the lead but left 10 runners on base.

Caidon Livingston settled down after the rocky start and went six innings allowing four earned runs while striking out four to take the loss. Caleb Smith worked a pair of perfect innings and struck out two. HSU did not walk a batter in the game.

Travis Miller earned the win for GFU allowing two runs over six innings of work. He allowed six hits and struck out four. Noah Meffert earned his second save of the season. Meffert also led the Bruins with three hits. GFU improved to 2-3 on the season.

Seltzer, Gannon Azios and Buchowski had two hits each for the Cowboys.

HSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Cowboys were the home team in the contest. Jeremy Colon had a sacrifice fly, Kyler Reed had an RBI single and Seltzer had an RBI double in the inning.

Concordia came back with six runs in the third inning as the Cowboys had a rough inning on defense. The Tornados had a sacrifice fly, a bases loaded walk, a squeeze bunt, a bases loaded hit by pitch and two RBI singles. The Tornados added three more runs in the fourth.

HSU came back with two runs in the fourth on a Colon bases loaded walk and Seltzer added an RBI single. Seltzer added another RBI single in the fifth. Concordia added a run in the sixth inning.

Nick Ellington had a two-run single in the eighth inning to narrow the deficit to 10-8. Trey Hibbets came on and got out of the jam in the eighth for the Tornados. He worked a scoreless ninth for the save. He was the sixth pitcher of the night for Concordia. Jake Lancaster won the game in relief.  

Starter Grant Mitzelfelt took the loss allowing six runs (three earned) over two and one-third innings. Kolten Kitchens allowed three runs in one and two-third innings.

Jacob Posey worked a scoreless inning in his Cowboy debut and Grayson Bearden allowed one run in his collegiate debut over an inning of work. Jaydon Stephens worked a scoreless seventh. Johnny Follett worked a scoreless eighth inning. Alex Carte worked a scoreless ninth inning.

Seltzer and Ellington had three hits each for the Cowboys. Chris Morrow had four hits for the Tornados.

The Cowboys are now 0-2 on the year and Concordia is 2-0. HSU will play Pacific Lutheran at 9 a.m. on Saturday to close out the opening weekend.

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