GEORGETOWN, Texas - The Pirates received a strong pitching performance by Cody Lovas and beat Cardinal Stritch 8-1 on Wednesday evening.
The Pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Colton Shea led off with a walk and scored on a Lance Gottardy sacrifice fly. Then Ketchum Marsh reached base on a wild pitch. He later scored on another sacrifice fly, this time hit by Zachary Lynch.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Pirates successfully stole four bases, which helped both Jay Sterling and Cruz Luna to score. Then in the 4th, with the bases loaded, Will Burks hit a 2 RBI single to right field. Cruz Luna also scored in the inning to put Southwestern up 7-0.
The Pirates scored one more run in the bottom of the 6th inning. Ross Meyer reached first after being hit by a pitch. He later scored when Will Burks drove him in to put the Pirates up 8-0.
Cardinal Stritch's only run was scored in the top of the 9th inning. Dykema led off with a single through the left side and later scored on a fielder's choice towards second by Bass. Despite 8 hits, they only scored one run thanks to the Pirates' clutch pitching and defense stranding 13 Wolves' runners. Southwestern improves to 2-16 on the season and the Wolves fall to 1-4.
A combination of Cruz Luna and Will Burks helped ignite the Pirate offense and Cody Lovas (2-1) pitched seven scoreless innings en route to the win.
The Pirates will be home again this Saturday, March 9th, when they play a doubleheader against Austin College at 2:00PM.