ABILENE, Texas – Freshman Karson Leatherwood drove in seven runs and Caidon Livingston pitched seven solid innings as the Hardin-Simmons baseball team beat Sul Ross State 11-8 in the first game of an American Southwest Conference series at Hunter Field on Friday night.

Carsen put the Lobos on the board in the first inning with an RBI single. HSU answered back with a Leatherwood RBI double in the first.

Tye Lindsey had a sacrifice fly to give SRSU the lead back in the third but HSU answered with three runs. Leatherwood had a two-run double and another run scored on a passed ball.

HSU busted the game open in the fourth when Colby Seltzer had an RBI single and Leatherwood delivered a grand slam to left field.  The Lobos scored a run in the fifth and added four more in the eighth to cut the HSU lead to 9-7.

Seltzer added an RBI double in the eighth and Cole Antonelli scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-7. The Lobos added an unearned run in the ninth.

Livingston went seven innings and scattered eight hits and allowed three runs to improve to 5-1. Caleb Smith and Wyatt Tumlinson each worked an inning out of the bullpen. Chris Ibanez allowed four runs over two and one-third innings and Cade Watson allowed six runs in five and two-third innings for SRSU.  

Leatherwood had three hits and drive in seven runs. Tristan Karels had four hits and scored four times for the Lobos.

The Cowboys are now 8-10 on the year and 5-2 in league play. Sul Ross State fell to 7-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play. The two teams will finish the series with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Hunter Field.

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