Box Score AUSTIN, Texas – The St. Edward's baseball team lost to University of Houston-Victoria this afternoon, 9-5 at Lucian-Hamilton Field. UH-Victoria (9-17) got off to an early start as Chad Kruse hit a homerun over the left field fence in the first inning bring in two of his teammates, and giving the Jaguars an early lead of 3-0. The Jaguars would score again in the third inning as Ryan Suescun hit a double followed by Creighton Hoke who singled up the middle giving Suescun time to score, extending the lead to 4-0. With St. Edward's (18-8) fighting to find a rhythm, UH-Victoria would continue to add runs to the board by collecting four runs in the fourth inning. With the score now 8-0, the Hilltoppers had some work to do. In the fourth inning they would secure their first run with Nate Bobrowski (Jerome, Idaho/San Mateo JC) on first after a single, Colin Elmore (Dallas, Texas/Richland CC) would follow with a triple to left field giving the Hilltoppers some momentum. With this momentum, the Hilltoppers would retire the first three batters for the Jaguars in the top of the fifth. Closing the gap, the Hilltoppers would score three runs in the fifth inning to make the score 8-4. Taylor Johnson (Dripping Springs, Texas/Dripping Springs HS) would single up the middle. Using his speed T. Johnson would steal second, then advance to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Beau Rogers (Carbonado, Wash./Tacoma CC) would ground out to the shortstop providing a distraction as T. Johnson scored. Adam Shank (Sugar Land, Texas/San Jacinto JC) followed with a nice double deep into right field and would be brought home as Wes Koenig (Austin, Texas/Hill JC) connected, pounding out a homerun over the right field fence. UH-Victoria was determined to keep a distance and would collect another run in the sixth as Josh Ledesma hit a double bringing in a fellow Jaguar. After this run, neither team would give up another. From the top of the seventh until the bottom of the ninth neither team's pitchers would allow a hit. Not until the bottom of the ninth when T. Johnson was up at bat and would collect the last run for the Hilltoppers as he banged one out over the right center field fence. The game would end in favor of the Jaguars, 9-5. Leader for UH-Victoria was Chad Kruse who had two hits, one of which was a homerun, and four RBI. Leaders for St. Edward's was Koenig who hit his fourth homerun of the season, collecting two RBI, and T. Johnson who had two hits and collected his fifth homerun of the season. Casey Russell (Colleyville, Texas/Oklahoma) pitched an inning for the Hilltoppers allowing no hits and had two strikeouts. Stephen Johnson (Boulder, Colo./Boulder HS) also pitched an inning, retiring all three batters with strikeouts. St. Edward's will be back in action this weekend as they travel Wichita, Kan. to take on rival Newman for a three game series. Friday's doubleheader will kick off at 3:00 p.m. at Sullivan Field. As a member of NCAA Division II and the Heartland Conference, St. Edward's, has captured 47 conference titles, advanced to the NCAA tournament 50 times and has produced 31 All-Americans and 32 Academic All-Americans since 1999. Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward's University is named among the top five "Up-and-Coming Universities" in the Western Region by its academic peers in a 2011 U.S. News & World Report survey. For eight consecutive years St. Edward's has been recognized as one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report. St. Edward's has also been named one of “America's Best Colleges” by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability. St. Edward's is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of more than 5,400 students located in Austin, Texas. For more information on St. Edward's University, visit http://www.stedwards.edu/athletics.