GEORGETOWN, Texas – Southwestern fell to Hendrix 8-6 on Sunday afternoon in a roller coaster of a game that saw multiple tie scores and lead changes. Prior to the game, the Pirates honored seniors Cray Betts, Nate Shipp, Matt Stuart, and Chris Webber in a special Senior Day ceremony.
The Warriors would start off the wild ride by getting on the scoreboard first. Harr led off with a walk in the top of the second inning. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by J.T. Bowen. Then Simmons singled through the right side to bring in Harr for the early 1-0 lead.
The Pirates would go ahead in the bottom of the second. Zachary Lynch reached base on a throwing error by the third baseman. Then Cray Betts singled through the right side to give the 'Bucs runners on first and second base with no outs. Glasgow reached on a fielder's choice with Betts out on the play. Glasgow advanced to second and Lynch scored on a wild pitch. Later, Lance Gottardy singled in Glasgow to give the Pirates the 2-1 lead.
Senior Nate Shipp singled to left center with one out in the bottom of the third for Southwestern. Then Senior Cray Betts homered to left field to extend the lead to 4-1 and the pair celebrated with teammates at the plate.
Aaron Bowen singled through the right side with one out in the top of the fourth for Hendrix. He scored on a triple by Raskin. Then Raskin made it home on a single up the middle by Vlaskamp to narrow the game to 4-3.
The Warriors' J.T. Bowen was hit by a pitch with one out in the top of the fifth inning. He later scored on an error by the right fielder on a swing off the bat of Newville to tie the game at 4-4.
Shipp led off with a walk in the bottom of the fifth. Lynch doubled over the left fielder's head to advance Shipp to third. Then Betts singled to right field to score Shipp and move Lynch to third. Glasgow followed with an RBI single of his own to right field to give the Pirates the 6-4 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning, Harr led off with a walk for Hendrix. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and took third on a ground out. Harr scored on a single up the middle by Newville to cut it to a 6-5 game.
In the top of the eighth, Raskin led off with a single up the middle. Vlaskamp put down a sacrifice bunt to advance Raskin to second base. Then Sims tripled to drive in Raskin to tie the game at 6-6. Radack followed with a single to right field to score Sims and give the Warriors the lead. Later, Radack would score on a double by J.T. Bowen to make it 8-6.
The Pirates would try to rally in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jeff Glasgow walked with one out to give the 'Bucs some hope. Jay Sterling came in to pinch run for Glasgow. Zac Cleveland entered the game to pinch hit for Garrett and reached on a catcher's interference call. Then Lance Gottardy drew a walk to load the bases. The Warriors were able to end the threat by getting Ross Meyer to ground into a double play to close out the game 8-6 in favor of Hendrix.
Southwestern was led offensively by Seniors Cray Betts and Nate Shipp. Betts went 3-5 with three RBI and a homerun and Shipp was 2-4 with two runs scored and a walk.
The Pirates conclude their season with an overall record of 11-27 and went 7-13 in conference.