ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' baseball team is looking for the first American Southwest Conference baseball title in program history when it competes in the double-elimination tournament this weekend in Marshall.
The Cowboys open the tournament with a 3 p.m. game on Thursday against Mary Hardin-Baylor. HSU and UMHB played last week at Hunter Field and the Cowboys won three of four games. Howard Payne (13-25) and East Texas Baptist (30-10) will play in the other first round game on Thursday.
The two losers will play at 11 a.m. on Friday, with the winners playing at 3 p.m. The winner of the 11 a.m. Friday game will play the loser of the 3 p.m. game at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Championship will be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of the 3 p.m. Friday game would need just one win for the title on Saturday. If that team were to lose, the teams would play an if necessary game right after the 1 p.m. game.
This will be the third straight year that HSU (24-14) and UMHB (24-16) will play in the ASC Tournament. They had never played in the tournament before these two meetings. HSU has ended the Crusaders' season the last two years.
HSU is making its 22
nd all-time appearance. They have finished second three times.
HSU's 24 wins are the most since the 2016 season for the Cowboys. The Cowboys had a bad series against ETBU, losing all four games, but sandwiched around it, won five games before that series and have won eight of nine games since. Overall, HSU is 13-5 over the last 18 games.
Second-year head coach
Mitch Wilson is 37-40 in his first two seasons at the helm and the Cowboys have made tremendous strides. HSU has already improved its win total by 11 games from a year ago.
HSU's .347 team batting average is the best in school history, if it were to hold. The 2010 team hit .340 and holds the current record. The Cowboys have a new team record for stolen bases in a season with 70. HSU's .427 on-base percentage is the best in team history with the old record being .419 on two different occasions (1998 and 2002). The slugging percentage of .520 is the second-highest in team history. The record is .540 in 2009.
HSU's defense has been great this season. They have turned 29 double plays, one behind UMHB in two less games for the ASC lead. They also have thrown out the highest percentage of basestealers in the conference at 24.5 percent and field at a .967 percentage as a team. HSU has 14 outfield assists, including seven by primary leftfielder
Cannon Negron.
Caleb Reynolds leads the ASC in ERA (2.75), is tied for the league lead in wins and is second in strikeouts with 74. He is five strikeouts away from the HSU single season record of 79 set by Kyle Barton in 2009.
Justin Blancaflor leads the ASC in RBIs with 53 and is three from the HSU school record of a season set in 2009 by All-American catcher Regan Dixon. He leads the Cowboys with 10 home runs and also has 13 doubles.
Jacob Hollingsworth is starting to put his name among the all-around greats in Cowboy history. With six more RBIs, he will become just the third player in school history to record 150 hits, 100 runs, 100 RBIs and 25 stolen bases for his career.
Hollingsworth has a team-best 11-game hitting streak heading into the tournament.
Cannon Negron has a 10-gamer,
Catcher Ridings is at eight straight and
Benji Fielder and
Gavin Bruning are at six games each.
Catcher Ridings has been an excellent addition to the middle of the Cowboy order. He is hitting .424 with 15 doubles and six home runs with 35 RBIs. He also has a team-high 22 walks and a .519 on-base percentage.
Sophomore
Paul Samaripa has been great at shortstop for the Cowboys. He only has five errors on the year and a .966 fielding percentage is almost unheard of for an every day shortstop.
Benji Fielder came into the season battling for the second base job and he won the job early and has been one of the most consistent hitters in the lineup. He handles the bat well and is hitting .374. He also has been solid at second base defensively and has been in the middle of a league-high 20 double plays this year.
Hunter Trojacek took over as the every day first baseman halfway through the season and he has been a steady forced in the lineup mostly as the leadoff man. He has 19 walks and has been hit by four pitches giving him 23 free passes in just 104 plate appearances. He has a .467 on-base percentage.
Freshman catcher/designated hitter
Gavin Bruning has been a big surprise in the middle of the lineup. He is hitting .418 with three home runs and 20 RBIs. He also has good speed for a catcher with nine stolen bases and he has thrown out six of 15 attempted basestealers.
Sophomore
Cannon Negron has been a huge threat for the Cowboys in the nine hole. He is hitting .369 with 28 RBIs, leads the team with 13 RBIs and has been a weapon defensively in left field with seven outfield assists.
Freshman
Ty McCoy has been a late addition to the lineup in right field after the injury to
Brock Calvillo. He had his first two home runs of the year last week against Mary Hardin-Baylor and he also has great speed.
Jack Kimsey has been solid for the Cowboys going 3-2 with a 5.79 ERA in nine starts.
Jeron Flores is 5-3 on the year with a 7.80 ERA.
Freshman Garret Keller is often used out of the bullpen. He has appeared in 20 of the 38 games and 3-2 with three saves. He is on a hot streak as well. In his last five appearances he has two wins and two saves and has allowed just two earned runs over the last 13 innings. He has allowed one run or less in 14 of his 20 appearances.
Jace Martinez had offseason surgery and just got back in the mix about six weeks ago. He is 2-0 with a 3.45 ERA in seven appearances. He went five and two-third innings last week in his first start of the year and allowed just two runs against UMHB.
All-Time Record vs. Opponents
East Texas Baptist - ETBU leads, 37-28
Howard Payne – HSU leads,75-48
Mary Hardin-Baylor – HSU leads, 68-48
ASC Tournament
33-46 all-time in the ASC Tournament
Mary Hardin-Baylor (2-0)
2024 W 6-5
2025 W 12-6
Howard Payne (3-0)
1997 W 10-6
1998 L 18-4
2017 W 9-7
2025 W 4-3
East Texas Baptist (4-9)
2005 L 11-9
2005 W 3-0
2016 W 9-8
2016 L 12-11
2016 W 8-6
2017 L 9-8
2019 L 4-2
2019 L 6-2
2023 W 12-4
2023 L 16-8
2023 L 8-1
2024 L 12-2
2025 L 6-4
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