April 15, 2008

Final Stats

PLAINVIEW, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' baseball team won its ninth straight game with a 13-6 win over Wayland Baptist, Tuesday afternoon in Plainview.

The Pioneers came into the game ranked 11th in the nation, but the Cowboys used a six-run fourth inning to take control of the game. HSU led 1-0 after the first inning when Ryan Stepp was hit by a pitch to lead off the game. With one out, James Gage singled Stepp to second and Regan Dixon drove him in with a single to centerfield.

WBU scored single runs in the second and third innings on solo home runs, but HSU scored six runs in the fourth inning. Taylor Berlin had a leadoff single and moved to second with one out when J.T. Armstrong was hit by a pitch. R.C. Waters had an RBI single with two outs. Mike Morgan followed with a walk and WBU committed back-to-back errors, with the Cowboys scoring a pair of runs on each. Regan Dixon then had an RBI single.

The Cowboys cashed another Pioneer error into a run in the sixth as Brian Weeks single and came around to score on a dropped fly ball. WBU added a single run in the sixth and three more in the seventh to cut the deficit to 10-6.

HSU added three more runs in the eighth on a RBI single by J.T. Armstrong had a single that drove in one and a throwing error on the same play allowed two more runs to score.

Dixon and Armstrong had three hits for the Cowboys. Lance Johnson went seven and one-third innings to move to 3-1 on the year. He scattered 10 hits and allowed six runs. Sam Walker threw an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief.

The Cowboys are now 23-14 on the year and Wayland Baptist, who is ranked No. 11 in the latest NAIA poll, fell to 36-10-1. HSU closes the regular season this weekend with a three-game set at Texas Lutheran. HSU needs one win to qualify for the ASC playoffs.