March 13, 2003

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmonsı baseball team will host Howard Payne in American Southwest Conference action this weekend at Hunter Field.

The two teams will square off Friday at 2 p.m. and then play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. The teams have identical 7-6 overall and 3-3 ASC records on the season.

The Cowboys came away 2-1 from the Abilene Classic this week. HSU won 1-0 over Southwestern on Monday and 9-8 over Montclair State on Wednesday. Elliot Strader had two hits and one RBI against Southwestern. Chuy Rodriguez had a two-run homer in the third inning and doubled to right field to bring in a runner in the seventh inning to win the Montclair State game.

John Schlaffer leads the Cowboys with a .375 batting average and has four home runs and 18 RBIs on the year while Chuy Rodriguez has two home runs, 7 doubles and 10 RBIs on the year. Freshman Josh Anderlohr has tripled twice and has three doubles on the year.

Sophomore Kyle Tabor (2-1) has had five appearances and pitched 22.0 innings and has a 1.64 ERA he will get the start on Friday in a game that was moved from 7 p.m. to 2 p.m. to allow HSU fans to see both the baseball and womenıs basketball games on Friday.