April 22, 2006

Final Stats

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' baseball team swept a crucial American Southwest Conference doubleheader from Sul Ross State, 6-2 and 22-1, Saturday afternoon at a sun-drenched Hunter Field.

In the first game, Cowboy senior Kurtis Lay won the final regular-season home start of his career going all seven innings, scattering eight hits and striking out three. He allowed two earned runs in the second and escaped further damage when he started a pitcher-to-catcher-to first double play with the bases loaded and one out.

The Cowboys jumped on the board in the first inning on Tre' Sellari's fourth home run of the season. Sul Ross State scored its lone runs in the second on a Patch Dimas two-run double.

HSU took the lead for good in the third when Trever Bunte led off with a walk and Ryan Stepp singled. Blake Koch moved them both over with a sacrifice bunt and Sellari drove them both in with a double to center.

HSU added three insurance runs in the sixth. Sellari led off with a single to cap a 3-for-3 game. Brad Coleman followed with a single to center and Danny Ruth had a bunt single. Michael Simpson followed with a two-run double and then Ruth scored on a wild pitch.

In game two, the Cowboys dropped a six-spot in the first inning to take control of the game. Stepp led off with a walk and Koch had a bunt single. Brad Coleman then hit a three-run tape-measure home run to left field. Ruth then single to right and Simpson followed with a two-run home run to right center. Bunte added an RBI double later in the inning.

HSU added two more runs in the second on a two-run home run by Ruth. The Cowboys added a run in the third when Koch drove in Bunte with a groundout.

The Cowboys had 10 straight hits in the fourth inning to plate 10 runs. James Gage had a a two-run triple, Coleman and Ruth had two-run doubles and Simpson and Simpson, Bunte and Sellari had RBI singles.

Sul Ross State has some fireworks in the middle of the fourth inning as Rafael Gonzalez, Richard Madrid, Jaime Rojo and head coach Mike Pallarez were all ejected. The Lobos scored its lone run in the fifth with back-to-back hits. Taylor Gibbs hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth for the Cowboys. The scheduled nine-inning game was halted by a 10-run rule.

Ruth hit for the cycle for the Cowboys and had four hits in five trips, drove in four runs and had four runs scored. Coleman had three hits and five RBIs and Bunte was 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

Dalton Rucker went six innings to win his sixth straight start. He allowed just three hits and one run, while striking out six.

Hardin-Simmons is now 24-15 on the year and 14-6 in ASC West play. Sul Ross State is 5-33 on the year and 3-17 in conference play. The teams will play a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. and if the Cowboys win they will host a first-round series in the American Southwest Conference Tournament the following weekend.