Trailing by two in the bottom of the ninth the Pirates strung together an impressive offensive inning to defeat Howard Payne University at home Tuesday.

Robert Wehman started the inning with a lead-off walk and Jake Pawelek pinch hit and matched the effort with a walk of his own. Colten Shea placed a beautiful hit down the third base line and just in fair territory to load the bases with no outs. 

With the game winning run aboard Will Cates tied the contest with a two-RBI single up the middle and moved the winning run to third. Chase Allen made the win a reality with a chopper up the middle to score Shea sliding head first into home well ahead of the tag.

Southwestern led most of the game until a three run sixth for the Yellow Jackets. HPU pushed one more across in the seventh to lead to the exciting finish.

Cates led at the plate going 2-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Ethan Luna also drove home two while going 1-3 at the plate. 

Southwestern returns to Seguin to finish the postponed game vs. TLU. The game will resume at 7 p.m. in the bottom of the fifth with SU holding a 2-0 lead.