Cowboys Drop First Game Of The Season
By: Eric Boynton
Updated: February 9, 2013
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Hardin-Simmons' baseball team
dropped a 7-4 game to Whitman in the Arizona Desert Classic on Saturday
afternoon at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in Phoenix.
HSU got on the board
in the third inning on a solo home run by Chris Matthews. The Cowboys added
single runs in the fourth and sixth innings to make it 3-0. In the fourth, Troy
Nicholson drove home Andrew Bell with a groundout. Bell had doubled and moved to
third on a flyout. In the sixth, Matthews had an RBI single.
Jordan Dotson was good
for the Cowboys through five innings. He retired 12 straight batters after the
first two batters of the game reached. In the sixth, Kyle Buckham doubled with
one out and scored when he stole third and the throw to third was thrown into
left field. Ozzy Braff then doubled to right to chase Dotson. Wise then relived
and the first pitch he saw was drilled for a two-run home run to left center by
Kyle Moyes to tie the game.
The Missionaries added
four runs in the seventh without a hit and the ball never left the infield. Eli
Mathieu and Maclean Harned both walked to start the inning. Wise was replaced by
Brandon Bollinger. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up and Jonny Chow walked.
Then Kyle Buckham reached on a fielding error by Jon Finney and a groundout
scored another run. Moyes then reached on a two-base throwing error by Eric
Zamora that resulted in two more runs.
HSU scored a run in
the eighth on a Jason Vause RBI single. In the ninth, Marcus Uechi led off with
a walk and Andrew Bell drove a ball to deep center field, but Chow ran it down
with a sliding catch and the Cowboys did not score.
Wise took the loss for
the Cowboys. He allowed three runs (two earned) in two-thirds inning of relief
of Dotson. Dotson worked five and one-third innings and allowed two runs and
struck out six. Brandon Bollinger, Ryan Reagor and Parker Robinson also worked
in relief for the Cowboys.
Dakota Matherly
started for Whitman and went five and two-third innings allowing three runs.
Aaron Cohen got the win in relief with one and two-third innings of work. Robert
Maislin worked the ninth for the save.
Hannagan and Matthews
had two hits each to lead the Cowboys and Braff had two of the six hits for the
Missionaries.
The Cowboys are 2-1 on
the year and Whitman improved to 3-2. HSU will close the four-game Arizona trip
with an 11 a.m. game against LaVerne.
