May 2, 2007
The Southwestern University baseball team saw its season come to close this past weekend as the Pirates dropped a pair of games to nationally ranked opponents at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in Georgetown, TX.
The Pirates, playing as the fourth seed in the tournament, opened against #25 Rhodes College on Friday (Apr. 27). SU was able to push a run across in the top of the first against 2006 SCAC Pitcher of the Year Robert Flanagan with three singles in a row with two outs and take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Lynx put up four runs on five hits to take a 4-1 lead.
The Bucs cut the lead to two when sophomore Michael Murphy (Houston, TX/Austin HS) led off the third with a solo home run to left field. In the fourth inning, Rhodes took advantage of a hit batter, a walk and three hits to put another four runs on the board and extend its lead to 8-2.
Southwestern got back in the game in the seventh as Jamie Herrmann (Houston, TX/Westside HS) drove an RBI single through the left side and Eric Gonzales (Austin, TX/Bowie HS) lined a two-out single to right centerfield to score two more runs and make the score 8-5. In the ninth, trailing by three, senior Brad Culling (Albuquerque, NM/St. Pius HS) led off with a double to right but the next two hitters were retired without advancing Culling. First-year Todd Boone (Huntsville, TX/Huntsville HS) hit a pinch-hit single to right field to score Culling and pull SU within two but that was it as the next batter struck out.
The Pirates then faced the 15th-ranked Millsaps Majors on Saturday (Apr. 28) in an elimination game. Southwestern again took the early lead when Murphy stroked a two-out, two-run home run to left center field to put SU ahead 2-0. Millsaps got on the board with a run in the top of the second on sacrifice fly, pulling within one.
In the second, Culling led off with a walk followed by a double from Boone before Gonzales hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Culling from third. First-year Matt Clark (Spring, TX/Klein HS) then grounded to second base to drive in Boone from third base and give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. The Majors got two runs in the top of the fourth against SU starter Wes Willis (Austin, TX/Austin HS) on three hits.
SU pushed its lead to two in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of John Wooten (Columbus, TX/Columbus HS) to score Gonzales from third. Millsaps then managed to tie the game in the sixth when Derrick Boland homered to right center, scoring two. The Majors took the lead briefly in the seventh when Willis walked in a run. The Pirates answered with a run of their own in the seventh as Wooten led off the inning with a triple followed by a sacrifice fly by Richard Falcone (Houston, TX/Westside HS).
MC exploded for six runs on five hits in the top of the ninth inning for a 12-6 lead. The Pirates came out swinging in the bottom of the ninth as Wooten drove in a run with a groundout to short to pull within five. Falcone followed with a run-scoring single to right field, followed by a double down the right field line from Ryan Bellomy (Dallas, TX/Jesuit HS). With men on second and third, Murphy single to left center to drive in two more runs and get the Bucs within two. Herrmann was hit by a pitch before the next two batters were retired to end the game at 12-10.
Murphy was 4-9 on the weekend with two home runs, five runs batted in and two runs scored. He finishes the season with six homers. Gonzales had four hits in seven at-bats for SU, scoring twice and driving in three.
The Pirates close out the year with a 19-24 record overall and a 9-7 mark in the SCAC.
SU Sports Information