GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Southwestern offense clicked on all cylinders on Sunday afternoon in the 14-10 win over Austin College. The 'Bucs barrage peppered the 'Roos with runs in the first, third, fourth, and sixth innings en route to the victory.
In the top of the first, Muder hit a leadoff single to left center field and later stole second for the 'Roos. Leech advanced Muder to third on a flyout to center field. Coughennower drove in Muder on a ground out to the shortstop for the early 1-0 lead.
The Pirates returned fire in the bottom of the first. Lance Gottardy drew a one out walk to begin the 'Bucs rally. Charlie Garrett moved Gottardy over to second on a single to left center. Nate Shipp homered to left field and hit the scoreboard to put the Bucs ahead 3-1.
Austin College's Coughennower hit a double down the right field line with two outs in the third. Schulmeister hit a RBI single through the right side of the field to score Coughennower and cut it to a 3-2 game.
The Pirates got a triple from Cruz Luna to center field to begin the bottom of the third inning. Gottardy scored Luna with a single and advanced to second base on the throw. Glasgow hit a one out single through the right side to advance Gottardy to third. Shipp was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the 'Bucs. Cray Betts hit a single through the left side to advance all the runners and score Gottardy. Then Dutton walked to bring home Glasgow and keep the bases loaded. Another run scored on a wild pitch that moved all the runners up a bag. Ryan Doane followed with a walk to load the bases again for Southwestern. Luna, batting for the second time in the inning, hit a two RBI single to right field to extend the lead to 9-2.
In the top of the fourth, Day led off with a bloop single to shallow center field. Day moved over to third on a bad pickoff throw that ended up in right field. Hendrix brought home Day by reaching on an error by Charlie Garrett for the 9-3 score.
The Pirates added a run of their own in the bottom of the frame as Jeff Glasgow crushed a solo home run down the right field line to make it 10-3.
Takabuki drew a two out walk in the top of the fifth for the 'Roos. Day hit a double down the left field line, advancing Takabuki to third. Hendrix brought home both runners with a single to center field to cut it to a 10-5 Southwestern lead.
Austin College threatened again after receiving three consecutive one out walks in the sixth to load the bases. Takabuki hit a single to right center with two outs to score two more runs for Austin College. Day followed with a two RBI double down the left field line resulting in a 10-9 game. Then Hendrix hit a bloop single to tie the game by scoring Day from second base.
Southwestern broke through with another salvo in the bottom of the sixth. Glasgow hit a leadoff double that carried deep to center field. Cray Betts hit a stand up triple to right center field to score Glasgow to regain the lead for the Pirates. Colby Dutton lined an RBI single to right center, scoring Glasgow. Then Doane drew a walk to advance Dutton to second. Cruz Luna reached base on an error by the second baseman which allowed an additional run to score for the 'Bucs. Gottardy reached on an error by the shortstop, which scored the final run of the inning and subsequently the game to give Southwestern the 14-10 victory.
The Pirates featured a strong and balanced offense with eight different players scoring runs on the day. The team had four players with extra base hits and four with multi-hit afternoons. Southwestern earns their first win in conference play and moves to 4-10 on the year.
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor comes to town this Tuesday, February 28th, to face the Pirates at Rockwall Field on the Southwestern campus in Georgetown, Texas. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm local time.