Post Game Press Conference
 
MARSHALL, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' baseball team advanced in the American Southwest Conference Championship with a 4-3 win over Howard Payne on Thursday at Woods Field in Marshall.
 
With the win, the Cowboys advance to the double elimination portion of the bracket and will take on top seed East Texas Baptist at 7 p.m. tonight.
 
Senior Alex Carte took the baseball for the Cowboys and delivered as he went six and two-third innings and allowed only two runs, while striking out four. He improved to 4-7 on the year. Freshman Jack Kimsey worked the final two and one-third innings for his first career save.
 
Luke Kirkbride put the Cowboys on the scoreboard in the second inning with an RBI triple. Cannon Negron pushed the lead to 2-0 in the fourth with an RBI single.
 
HPU narrowed the gap to 2-1 with a Jake McKenzie RBI single in the sixth inning. Jake Trapani answered in the bottom of the sixth with his fifth home run of the season to push the lead to, 3-1.
 
The teams traded runs again in the seventh with Brock Calvillo driving in Quincy McGraw with a sacrifice fly. HPU added another run in the eighth to make the game 4-3 on a Will Burford double.
 
In the top of the ninth, the Yellow Jackets put runners on second and third with no outs but Kimsey recorded three straight ground outs, the first to McGraw at second and the other two back to himself to earn the save.
 
Trapani and Kirkbride had two hits each for the Cowboys. Calvillo pushed his hitting streak to 17 games and Baylan Vaughan had a single to extend his streak to 13 games.
Hunter Rasnick Pope and Burford had four hits each for HPU. Daylan Bower took the loss on the mound, allowing four runs over seven innings. He fell to 1-7 on the year.
 
HSU improved to 12-24 overall. Howard Payne ended its season with a record of 9-31.
 
 
 
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