April 1, 2007

Final Stats

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons rallied twice and won a pair of walk-off wins over Schreiner, 10-7 and 11-10, Sunday evening in American Southwest Conference action at Hunter Field in Abilene.

Schreiner led 7-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning of a scheduled seven-inning game in the opener, before HSU plated two runs in the sixth. Ryan Stepp led off the inning with a single and scored on a Danny Ruth triple. Ruth scored on a James Gage sacrifice fly.

The Cowboys needed a run to tie it in the seventh inning and Taylor Gibbs led off with a single and moved up on a Blake Koch sacrifice bunt. Brad Coleman then doubled off the wall to score Gibbs and tie the game. Schreiner got a double play to get out of the inning and send it to the eighth.

In the eighth, Ruth walked and moved to second on a Gage sacrifice bunt. Taylor Lamar was intentionally walked and Tre' Sellari came off the bench for a three-run pinch-hit walk-off home run to right center.

Kyle Barton got the win for the Cowboys with three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Stepp had three hits and drove in two and Ruth had two hits and drove in two. Gibbs and Simpson each had two hits.

In the second game, Schreiner put up a five run third inning, including four unearned runs. HSU bounced right back with six runs in the third to take the lead. Coleman had an RBI double, Stepp had a sacrifice fly, Gage had a two-run double to left center Trevor Bunte had an RBI single and the Cowboys scored on a wild pitch to account for the six runs.

Schreiner scored two runs in the fourth to make it 7-6 and HSU tied it up in the fourth on a Simpson solo home run to right field. Taylor Gibbs gave the Cowboys an 8-7 lead in the fifth with an infield single.

Schreiner then scored a run in the sixth on a two-out error by Trevor Bunte to tie the game and it stayed that way until the eighth inning when the Mountaineers scored another run off another two-out Bunte error at shortstop and then scored another run on a double by Thomas Cable.

HSU came right back in the eighth inning to score three runs. Stepp and Ruth led off with singles to start the inning and moved to second and third respectively on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Lamar. Sellari then got a single to left to score Stepp. Sellari moved to second on a wild pitch and Wayne Pimpton delivered a two-run single to center to drive in Ruth and Sellari and give the Cowboys some much needed life in the conference race.

Gibbs and Ruth each had three hits and every Cowboy starter had a hit in the game. Lance Johnson went four and one-third innings of relief, allowing only one hit and no earned runs.

The Cowboys are now 14-14 on the year and 3-7 in ASC West play. Schreiner fell to 17-12 overall and 4-7 in league play. The teams play a single game at 1 p.m. on Monday.