GEORGETOWN, Texas – On senior day, seniors Daniel Montgomery Jr. and Byron Dowdell II provided their own fireworks, each crushing the ball for home runs in the Southwestern University Pirates' 12-2 victory over the Sul Ross State Lobos in seven innings.
The Pirates opened the game with a commanding 5-0 lead in the first, loading the bases on a Hayden Craig leadoff single, a Preston Witt walk, and Dowdell hit by pitch to setup Lance Kruse's two-RBI single through the right side.
After Seth Sparks was hit by a pitch to load the bases once more, Henry Fisher drew a walk to score Craig and Ryan Baranowski ripped a two-RBI single to leftfield, scoring Sparks and Kruse.
Southwestern starting pitcher Benjamin Ludwig got into trouble in the top of the second, loading the bases on two walks and hitting a batter, then walking Tristan Karels to score Jacob Ochoa and giving up a sacrifice fly to leftfield to score Matthew Wheeler.
After another walk loaded the bases, Trey Schwarz stepped in to relieve Ludwig, inducing a pop up and fly out to get out of the inning with the bases still loaded.
Montgomery followed with his first hit of the season, a blast that rocketed past the Pirate flag in left field to leadoff the second inning. Two outs later, Kruse hit a solo run to give the Pirates two runs in the inning on two hits and a 7-2 lead.
Craig hit a RBI-double to leftfield with two on, scoring Fisher, and Montgomery followed with a groundout to second, scoring Chase Thinger. Witt followed with a RBI-single to left field, scoring Craig.
After two scoreless Pirate innings, Dowdell put the Pirates back on the board with a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth to give the Pirates a 12-2 lead, triggering the 10-run mercy rule after Cole Johnson retired the Lobos in order in the top of the seventh.
With the win, the Pirates the three-game series 2-1 for a second consecutive season. Kruse led the Pirates with three RBIs and two runs scored, hitting 2-for-4. Witt was 2-for-3 with one RBI, a walk, and two runs scored.
Schwarz picked up the win the for the Pirates, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings with a blue-collar performance, striking out two and consistently staying in the strike zone without giving the Lobos easy pitches to hit.
Southwestern will play on the road against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Tuesday, Feb. 18, followed by a road trip to play Concordia Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
For more SU Pirate photos, please see Carlos Barron Photography