GEORGETOWN, Texas — Southwestern and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders put on a hitting clinic, combining for 36 hits in an 18-13 Pirates' victory.
The Pirates delivered their best offensive performance of the season, scoring 12 runs in the fourth inning on their way to a season-high 18 runs; the most Southwestern has scored since a 25-7 victory over Austin College in 2018.
Mary Hardin-Baylor jumped to an early lead, aggressively attacking Southwestern starting pitcher Carson Brown with four first-pitch hits, including a leadoff double by Warren Sammons down the third-base line to open the top of the second inning. Rhett Grosz followed with another first-pitch single, putting runners in the corners.
Blake Harmon drove in the game's first run on a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, scoring Sammons. Then, Garrett Gregory singled through the right side, scoring Grosz, and then Brown walked Farmer to load the bases, ending Brown's afternoon on the mound.
Trey Dees (1-1) replaced Brown and surrendered a two-RBI single to left field that bounced just in front of Christian Melillo before getting out of the inning with all four runs attributed to Brown. Dees was solid on the mound for Southwestern, pitching 3.1 innings with three strikeouts and no walks while allowing just one run on four hits to pick up his first win of the season.
Southwestern responded in kind in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs on four hits. Jacob Tanner and Henry Fisher hit back-to-back singles, then executed a double steal to move into scoring position. Landon Durdin followed with a sacrifice fly to put Southwestern on the board, then Melillo hit a single kept in the infield on a diving stop by Gregory at shortstop, scoring Fisher. After Raschke flew out to centerfield, Ted Lobkowicz drew a walk to put two on with two outs. Mims capitalized with an RBI-single to right field, driving in Melillo with Lobkowicz also scoring on a throwing error over the catcher's head from right field to tie the game.
Mary Hardin-Baylor took a brief lead in the top of the fourth. Kaden Berardinis opened the inning with a leadoff triple, scoring on a groundout to second by Herrera.
Crusaders' relief pitcher Cameron Bogan (0-2) entered the game to start the bottom of the fourth inning and put himself into an early hole, allowing a leadoff single by Lobkowicz, walking Mims, and then surrendering an RBI single up the middle by Preston Witt.
Chris Dubois replaced Bogan and surrendered three consecutive hits, starting with a Vaquero single off a bunt to load the bases, a two-RBI single from Tanner, and an RBI double through the left side by Fisher. After Durdin flied out, Melillo hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Tanner. Trent Raschke followed with an RBI single to shallow center field.
Lobkowicz, batting for the second time the inning, hit an RBI double to right, followed by a Mims RBI double to center, ending Dubois's evening. Zack Honey replaced Dubois, walking Witt and then giving up an RBI single to Vaquero and an RBI double to Tanner. Fisher reached on an error, scoring Vaquero, and Durdin finished off Southwestern's one-inning scoring binge with an RBI single to right.
After both teams went scoreless in the sixth, Trey Schwarz took the mound for Southwestern to start the sixth inning, surrendering five runs on two hits with Ryan Corbett replacing him to get the final out of the inning.
Both teams went scoreless again in the seventh, but Mary Hardin-Baylor plated three more runs in the eighth off relief pitcher Noah Pyles, who struck out two to start the inning then walked the bases loaded, allowing one run on a wild pitch and a two-RBI single by Josh Gonzales to cut Southwestern's lead to 16-13 before Braden Anderson took the mound and closed the inning.
Melillo provided two insurance runs for Southwestern, hitting a two-out, RBI triple to right-center to score Tanner, then scoring on a wild pitch.
Anderson surrendered a leadoff double to start the top of the ninth inning but retired the next three hitters in order, striking out Sammons to end the game and earn his first save of the season.
Southwestern's Mims and Tanner each hit 4-for-5, with Mims driving in two RBIs and scoring two runs and Tanner driving in three RBIs and scoring four runs. The Pirates' 23 hits are tied for the fifth-most in the program's NCAA history.
Southwestern improves to 7-5. The Pirates will travel to San Antonio this weekend for a three-game series against No. 18-ranked Trinity (6-5) starting on Friday at 6:00 p.m., with the doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.