March 19, 2004

Final Stats

ABILENE, Texas - Brian Whitworth won his third game of the week and Hardin-Simmons' baseball team remained perfect in American Southwest Conference action with a 14-8 win over Sul Ross State, Friday night at Hunter Field.

SRSU jumped on the board first with a three-run first inning. Cowboy starter Josh Bishop hit the first two batters of the game and Kevin Heady singled to center loading the bases. Kyle Baldeschwiler grounded out to the pitcher and Paul Cataldi singled through the left side scoring two more.

HSU responded with four runs in their half of the first. Barry Janisse single through the left side and scored on an Andy Harrington double. Justin Wilson then doubled in Harrington and Michael Simpson hit the first of his two home runs in the game to right field making it 4-3 after one inning.

SRSU came back with two runs in the top of the third on four hits. HSU responded with a three-run home run in the third by Simpson to make it 7-5. The home drove in Harrington, who had singled and Michael Popino who had walked. Simpson's shot was a linedrive over the 375 sign in left center.

In the fourth, Scott Drake and Janisse led off with walks and Michael Popino and Justin Wilson drove them in with run-scoring singles. HSU tacked on two more runs in the fifth when Brad Coleman led off with a double and scored on a Tim Donnelly home run to right field. The Lobos' Chris Espinoza dropped a two-run shot to close it to 11-7 in the top of the sixth inning.

Both teams picked up a run in the seventh inning, SRSU on a wild pitch and HSU scored when Drake tripled with two outs and scored on a Janisse single to center. Craig Johnson had a two-run double in the eighth to give the Cowboys two more runs.

Simpson led the Cowboys with three hits in five trips with three runs and five RBIs. Drake, Janisse, Harrington, Popino, Wilson and Coleman each had two hits.

Whitworth won his third game in relief this week with three and two-thirds innings of relief. Espinoza took the loss for the Lobos. Espinoza and Paul Cataldi each had two hits and two RBIs for the Lobos.

HSU improved to 11-5 on the year and 4-0 in American Southwest Conference action, while the Lobos fell to 3-17, 0-4. The two teams will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday at Hunter Field.