GEORGETOWN, Texas – Southwestern split Saturday's games with Austin College by winning 6-4 and then losing 1-3.
In the beginning of game one, Heath Spencer doubled to right field with one out. Nate Shipp followed with a walk. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch with Cray Betts at the plate. Betts later walked to load the bases for the Pirates. Then Spencer scored from third on another wild pitch for the early 1-0 lead.
The Pirates struck again in the second, getting a leadoff walk from Charlie Garrett. Garrett took second on a wild pitch and later advanced to third on a ground out by Tyler Herriage. Later, Colby Dutton hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Garrett to make it 2-0.
Southwestern rallied again in the fourth. Betts led off with a single up the middle. He advanced to third on a single by Zach Lynch down the left field line. Then Garrett hit a RBI single to center field, scoring Betts and pushing Lynch to second. Herriage followed with a double down the left line to bring home Lynch and put Garrett on third. Garrett tagged up to score on Dutton's second sacrifice fly of the game. Next, Cruz Luna walked to give the 'Bucs runners on first and second. Then Heath Spencer reached base on a fielder's choice and Herriage scored on the play, resulting from a bad throw by the 'Roos second baseman to put the Pirates up 6-0.
Austin College tried to rally back in the bottom of the inning. They hit three consecutive singles with one out to load the bases. Williams drove in two runs with a double to left center. A batter later, Muder singled in two more runs to cut it to a 6-4 game.
Max Smith entered the game in relief for Pirates starter Chris Webber in the fifth inning. Smith and the Pirates defense combined to shutout the 'Roos the rest of the way and earn the 6-4 victory for Southwestern.
The Pirates offense was led by Charlie Garrett who went 1-2 with a walk, scored twice, and had one RBI.
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In game two of the afternoon, it was slow going for both offenses. The Pirates opened the scoring in the top of the sixth inning. Lance Gottardy singled to the shortstop and later moved to second on a wild pitch. Then Betts followed with a walk. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch to give the 'Bucs runners on second and third. Lynch hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Gottardy for the 1-0 lead.
Southwestern had a pair of base runners in both the seventh and eighth innings but were unable to convert them into runs.
Austin College rallied in the bottom of the eighth. Leech led off the inning with a home run down the left field line to tie the game. Later, Herron hit a single with two runners in scoring position to take the 3-1 lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Pirates threatened to score again. Jay Sterling led off with a pinch hit single up the middle. Dutton ended up grounding into a double play. The Pirates were not deterred and proceeded to load the bases on a pair of singles by Luna and Spencer followed by a walk by Shipp. However, the 'Roos were able to get Gottardy to ground out to the third baseman to escape with the 3-1 win.
The Pirates conclude the series with Austin College on Sunday, April 1st.