AUSTIN, Texas - The St. Edward's Baseball team took its winning streak to seven games as they defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State, 8-2, Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action at Lucian-Hamilton Field.
 
SE Oklahoma State (7-8) scored its first run in the second inning as a leadoff double from Collin Sefcik and a passed ball put him on third base with no outs. The next batter flied out to right field, but the ball was hit deep enough to score Sefcik and give the Savage Storm a 1-0 lead.
 
St. Edward's (15-6) took a little while to get its offense going, but once SE Oklahoma State went to its bullpen in the fourth inning, the Hilltoppers put up a four spot. A.J. HERMANSON ripped a triple to left center to start the action just before GABLE WHITACRE and J.D. ARROWOOD drew back-to-back walks. JONATHAN DAVIS lined a single to right field to bring in Hermanson and tie the game at 1-1. The Hilltoppers weren't finished yet as KEVIN MAYO singled through the right side to give them the lead, 2-1. CUTTER RUNTE worked a bases-loaded walk and RYAN PULSIFER's sacrifice fly to right field put St. Edward's out in front, 4-1.
 
Hermanson once again played an instrumental part in the offense producing more runs as he drew a one-out walk in the fifth inning. Soon after the walk, Hermanson stole second and Whitacre skied a double to the right center gap to bring him around to score. Back-to-back wild pitches brought Whitacre around to score and give St. Edward's a 6-1 lead.
 
A St. Edward's defensive miscue in the seventh inning allowed the Savage Storm to pull within 6-2 of the Hilltoppers. However, St. Edward's would push across two more runs in the eighth inning to cap the scoring for the Hilltoppers.
 
Pulsifer singled through the left side and made his way to third shortly after as Wes Harris singled to centerfield. MILES WRIGHT was called on to pinch-hit and he drove in Pulsifer via a sacrifice fly. With Harris advancing to second on the throw, Hermanson produced his second hit of the day as he singled in Harris to give the Hilltoppers an 8-2 lead.
 
ERIC HESTER had a terrific start as he pitched seven strong innings allowing just four hits and recording three strikeouts. GRAYSON PRATT and STUART PATKE helped close the door in the eighth and ninth innings. Head Coach Rob Penders told us after the game that, "The offense was great, our pitching was outstanding and the runs we gave up were either through our defense giving them extra bases or outs in those two innings."
 
The offense produced at least eight runs for the 10th time this season and Penders expressed his satisfaction with how the team is currently producing, "We're in a good spot but there are still some areas we need to clean up. We had some favorable hitter's counts and we didn't get hard contact from our swings. We can improve, but it's hard to complain when you produce eight runs." Penders also acknowledged that there is little time to rest as the Hilltoppers will head back into conference play this Friday, "We're getting contributions from a lot of guys and they're stepping in and performing. We've let some teams hang around with us because we've made some mental errors, but if we eliminate those we should be in good shape throughout conference play."
 
St. Edward's will host UT-Permian Basin Friday as they continue Heartland Conference play. First pitch of the doubleheader from Lucian-Hamilton Field is set for 1:30. Live video and stats will be available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.