April 19, 2008

Final Stats

SEGUIN, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' baseball team swept Texas Lutheran 7-5 and 8-3 on Saturday to claim a piece of the American Southwest Conference West Division title for the first time in HSU history.

The Cowboys used the same formula it has all year with a strong bullpen and timely hitting.

In the first game HSU led 4-3 with two outs in the seventh inning of the seven-inning game and James Gage drew a walk. He stole second base on moved to third on a wild pitch. When Chris Siniff threw the ball back to the pitcher Travis Staggs on the wild pitch the ball got away and Gage alertly scored from third.

After that the floodgates opened and the Cowboys added three more runs with two outs. Tre' Sellari had a two-run double and J.T. Armstrong had a RBI single. Kyle Barton, who had came on with two outs in the sixth to record a strikeout, worked a scoreless seventh for the save.

Nathan Copeland was solid for the Cowboys as he went five and two-thirds and allowed three runs (two earned) and just four hits while striking out four batters to improve to 4-1 on the year. Staggs was the loser for TLU as he allowed seven earned runs in six and two-third innings, but struck out nine.

The Cowboys led 1-0 after the first inning when Brian Weeks single and moved to second when Weeks was hit by a pitch. Regan Dixon reached on an error to load the bases. Wayne Pimpton then hit a sacrifice fly to shallow right. HSU made it 3-0 in the third inning on a Dixon two-run double.

TLU tied it in the fourth. Joseph Brade led off the inning with a home run and after a Taylor Berlin error at third Drew Farr hit a pitch out to left to make it 3-3.

HSU came right back and manufactured a run in the fifth when Stepp led off with an infield single and moved to second a sacrifice bunt by Weeks. Gage then singled in Stepp to make it 4-3.

In game two, TLU led 1-0 when Stepp hit a solo home run in the third inning into the wind. HSU scored a single run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Kevin Ellison. HSU made it 4-1 on a two-run home run by Wayne Pimpton, his 10th of the season.

TLU came right back with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Drew Farr hit a two-run home run, his third of the series, and a two-run triple by Chris Green made it 5-4 TLU.

HSU came back with single runs in the eighth and the ninth innings to make it 7-5. In the eighth,

J.T. Armstrong had a pinch-hit RBI single and in the ninth Dixon had an RBI double.

The Cowboys improved to 26-14 and moved its winning streak to 12 games heading into the postseason. TLU ended its three-year reign as ASC champion with a 19-21 record. They did not qualify for the ASC playoffs for the first time.

The time, opponent and location of next weekend's series will be announced on Sunday.