AUSTIN, Texas – The St. Edward's Baseball team took the final two games in its three-game series against Oklahoma Panhandle State, Saturday afternoon at Lucian-Hamilton Field.
Game 1The Hilltoppers jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the second inning with a two run, two-out rally. After a
DYLAN WATTS walk and
MILES WRIGHT single, advancing Watts to third, the Hilltoppers scored on a double-steal for the game's first run.
NATE TURNER would follow with a single, scoring Wright from second, making the score 2-0.
St. Edward's (31-10, 17-4 HC) would score on another two-out hit in the bottom of the fifth inning off the bat of Joe Olson, knocking in Turner. After five innings of play, the score stood 3-0 in favor of the Hilltoppers.
The three-run advantage would prove to be enough for the Hilltoppers as they went on to win, 3-0. Panhandle State (3-37, 2-19 HC) would only have four hits in the game.
BRYCE DAVIS, who started the seven-inning game for St. Edward's, threw a masterful game, going the distance and allowing no runs with only four hits. Davis improved to 6-1 on the year.
Game 2 Game two would be no different for St. Edward's, as they continued its dominance over the Aggies.
NATE TURNER started off the game getting hit by a pitch, and would come around to score off a
J.D. ARROWOOD single to get the Hilltoppers on the board first.
CAMERON STANTON would take control of the game early, as he would strike out six of the first twelve batters in the first four innings of play.
Joe Olson would give the Hilltoppers a 3-0 lead in the third inning with a two-RBI single to left field. Later in the fourth inning, Turner would hit a single to right field, scoring
WESLEY HARRIS from second.
In the top of the fifth inning, Nick Crosswhite would hit a homerun to left field to break up Stanton's no-hit bid and give the Aggies their first run of the series after 18.1 innings of play.
Arrowood would tally his third triple of the season to bring in two base runners and give the Hilltoppers a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Olson would get another two-out RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning as they continued to pour on their offensive firepower.
Stanton would work through a brilliant seven innings on the afternoon. The starter would finish the game with 11 strikeouts, allowing just one run on one hit. Stanton improved to 6-0 with the victory.
The Hilltoppers would go on to win 12-2 in 8.0 innings of play, finalizing the series sweep.
Hilltopper pitching dominated the weekend, as Head Coach Rob Penders only made one call to the bullpen in the three-game set. Over the weekend, Hilltopper starters
COLLIN SHERROD,
BRYCE DAVIS, and
CAMERON STANTON combined for 20 strikeouts; only nine hits and allowed only two runs.
With the sweep St. Edward's moves into a tie with St. Mary's for first place in the Heartland Conference.
"We have to worry about ourselves first, we have a long way to go with two weekends left to play," said Penders.
"All of our pitchers were outstanding. I was pleased with the all-around effort this weekend and our pitchers were great," stated Penders.
St. Edward's will be back in action on Tuesday as the team travels to Kingsville, Texas to take on Lonestar Conference opponent, Texas A&M Kingsville in a single game at 6 p.m. Live video and stats will be available through the Javelina Athletics Website.
