Cowboys Split Doubleheader With Sul Ross State
By: Eric Boynton
Updated: March 9, 2013
ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' baseball team split an American Southwest Conference
doubleheader with Sul Ross State, losing 6-3 in the first game before taking the
three-game series with a 10-4 win in the rubber game, in action at Hunter Field
on Saturday.
Game 1
In the first game, Sul
Ross made the Cowboys pay for three errors with four unearned runs in the 6-3
loss.
Josh Vasquez doubled
with one out in the first for the Lobos and scored on an Emmett Crisp RBI
single. Brian Lalima later scored Crisp when he hit a shot off Cowboy starter
James Simmons for an infield RBI single.
The Lobos made it 4-0
with two runs in the third. Crisp reached on an error by Cowboy shortstop Jon
Finney and came around to score on a Jesse Loter single. Ely Gallego later drove
home Loter.
HSU made it 4-1 with
an RBI single by Troy Nicholson in the bottom of the third. SRSU pushed it to
6-1 in the fifth with a pair of runs. Dakota Dill walked and moved to second on
a sacrifice bunt. Brian Lalima then hit a perfect bunt that Simmons tried to
make a spectacular play on but his throw to first got away and Dill scored.
Lalima scored on an error by Marcus Uechi.
The Cowboys threatened
in the bottom of the seventh of the seven inning game. Finney and Uechi each
single to start the inning and Andrew Bell hit a rocket up the middle but it hit
the mound and popped up in the air for a fielder's choice. Nicholson followed
with an RBI single and Colson Craddick hit a fly ball that was caught on the
warning track.
Ryan Reagor had an RBI
single then Zack Patino grounded out to end the game.
Simmons went the
distance for the Cowboys and stuck out eight batters. He allowed six runs (two
earned) on 10 hits to fall to 2-3 on the year.
Dakota Dill worked a
complete-game for the Lobos and threw 132 pitches. He scattered 11 hits, allowed
three runs and struck out nine to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Josh Vasquez, Dill,
Loter and Lalima all had two hits for the Lobos and Nicholson led the Cowboy
offense with three hits.
Game Two
HSU used a familiar
path to success to earn the series win. Matt Rhodes threw six strong innings and
the closer Tyler Brunnemann slammed the door on SRSU.
Colson Craddick put
the Cowboys on the board with a two-run double in the first inning. Uechi and
Nicholson had RBI singles in the second inning to make it
4-0.
SRSU scored a run in
the third on an RBI fielder's choice by Vasquez. Jon Finney had an RBI single
for HSU in the fourth and Caleb Jacques had an RBI on a groundout. Jacques added
a two-run double in the fifth to make it 10-1.
In the sixth inning,
HSU had three errors in the inning that led to three runs. Vasquez had an RBI
triple, Dill had a sacrifice fly and Crisp reached on a double error by Jacques
on a grounder to third that Jacques bobbled then threw
away.
Matt Rhodes worked six
innings and allowed just one earned run for the Cowboys. He allowed just four
hits and struck out three. He improved to 1-2 on the year and turned the game
over to Brunnemann.
Brunnemann was simply
dominant as he worked three scoreless innings allowing just one hit and he
struck out all nine batters he retired in the three inning
save.
Ray Gutierrez, the
first of five SRSU pitchers took the loss to fall to 1-4 on the year. He allowed
four runs and walked four and allowed five hits in an inning and two-thirds.
Uechi led the Cowboys
with three hits and Jacques drove in three runs. Five different Lobos had one
hit each.
HSU is now 11-5
overall and 2-1 in ASC play. Sul Ross State fell to 6-12 and 1-2 in conference
action. HSU will host Texas-Dallas for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
