April 14, 2008

Box Score

The SU baseball team closed out the 2008 regular season on Sunday (Apr. 13) by winning the final game of a four-game series with SCAC foe Hendrix College by a margin of 4-3 in Georgetown, TX.

The Pirates fell in to a 2-0 hole after just half an inning as Hendrix scored twice in the top of the first. In the bottom half of the inning, Richard Falcone (Houston, TX/Westside HS) led off with a double and moved up to third on the throw in from the outfield. He then scored on a single from senior Zach Copeland (Dallas, TX/W.T. White HS) to make it a one-run game.

In the second, first-year Kyle Belski (Missouri City, TX/Dulles HS) singled to right, followed by a Matt Clark (Spring, TX/Klein HS) double down the right field line and then a Falcone double to right center to drive in two and give the Bucs a 3-2 lead. SU added a single run in the sixth inning with two one-out walks, a hit by pitch and then another walk to make it 4-2. The Warriors pushed a run across on three hits in the seventh but junior Eric Ruff (Bacliff, TX/Clear Creek HS) shut them out the rest of the way to preserve the win.

Falcone was 2-4 in the game with two runs scored and two runs batted in, bringing his season RBI total to 47. Other players with two hits were Blake Williams (Lufkin, TX/Lufkin HS) and Belski. Williams had one RBI and Belski had one run scored.

On the mound, first-year Brantley Freeman (Mansfield, TX/Mansfield HS) earned the win in five innings of work. The left-hander struck out six, walked four and allowed two earned runs on four hits. Freeman is now 3-4 on the year. Ruff picked up his first save with 2.1 innings on the mound, facing a minimum of seven hitters and striking out two.

The win give Southwestern a 10-6 mark in the SCAC, good for second in the West Division, and an overall record of 20-18. Hendrix's season comes to a close with a record of 14-26, 3-13.

The Pirates will be the number two seed from the West at the SCAC Divisional Tournament this coming weekend in Millington, TN and will face Centre College in a best of three series beginning Friday (Apr. 18) at 8:00 pm. The winner of the series will advance to the SCAC Championship Tournament in Danville, KY.