MARSHALL, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' baseball rallied for a pair of wins on Saturday to advance to the American Southwest Conference Championship, beating Howard Payne, 9-7, and Mary Hardin-Baylor, 8-7, in elimination games.
In the nightcap, UMHB's Riley Bender hit his second home run of the game to give the Crusaders a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth inning. HSU responded right back to tie the game with a
Catcher Ridings RBI single.
After a brilliant defensive play in the top of the ninth by
Jacob Hollingsworth, the Cowboys'
Justin Blancaflor led off with a single and
Paul Samaripa sacrificed him to second with a bunt.
Mitch Wilson went to injured senior
Brock Calvillo to pinch hit and UMHB immediately intentionally walked him setting up Benji Field for a dramatic moment.
Fielder then singled to left field and Blancaflor scored the walkoff winning run.
The other story of the game was senior right hander
Caleb Reynolds, who came into the game in the third inning and went six and one-third innings on one day of rest. He allowed just three hits and two runs and struck out seven batters to move to 8-2 on the year. He also claimed the single-season strikeout record for himself with his 86
th strikeout of the season.
HSU got out to an early lead on a
Gavin Bruning two-run single in the first inning. UMHB then scored five straight runs to take the lead. Cameron Talburt had a two-run triple in the third and Easton Cline was walked with the bases loaded, Tyler Martin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Landon Pyles walked with the bases loaded to force in three more runs.
The Cowboys added two runs in the bottom of the third on a Bruning RBI single and a Samaripa sacrifice fly to narrow the deficit to 5-4. Riley Bender hit his first home run of the game in the fifth, but Bruning answered right back with a solo shot of his own in the fifth.
Fielder tied the game at 6-6 in the fifth on an RBI single.
Talburt, Bender and Jasson Hemmerling each had two hits for UMHB. Ryland Anders the fourth pitcher of the game for UMHB took the loss to fall to 2-2.
Bruning and Trojacek each had four hits for the Cowboys.
In the first game of the day, the Cowboys rallied to beat Howard Payne 9-7.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 4-0 lead .with two runs on a two-run home run by Landon Prestage in the first innings, a Jace Mackenzie RBI single in the second and a Braden Franks home run.
HSU started chipping away with a
Hunter Trojacek RBI single in third inning, a sole home run by
Paul Samaripa in the fourth and
Jacob Hollingsworth tied the game in the fifth with a two-run home run in the fifth.
HPU regained the lead with a three-run sixth inning. Prestage had an RBI single and Josh Lile had a two-run single.
Samaripa hit his second home run of the game in the sixth inning and
Benji Fielder added a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 7-6.
Hollingsworth tied the game in the eighth with a sacrifice fly and Gavin Brunning gave the Cowboys the lead with an RBI fielder's choice.
Jace Martinez started and allowed three runs in one and a third innings.
Jack Kimsey then came into the game and settled down the game on the mound and went six and two-thirds innings allowing four runs to earn the win and move to 4-2 on the year.
Garrett Keller came in and worked a scoreless ninth inning for his fourth save of the season.
Cannon Negron led the Cowboys with three hits. Huston Cornish had three hits to pace HPU.
The Cowboys improved to 26-15 on the year. HSU ended the Crusaders season in the conference tournament for the third straight year as UMHB finished the year at 25-18. HPU ended its season with a record of 13-27.
HSU advances to the ASC Championship round for the fourth time in school history and is looking for its first title. The Cowboys will have to beat East Texas Baptist twice on Sunday. The first game begins at 1 p.m. with the if necessary game to follow.
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