AUSTIN, Texas – The 20
th-ranked St. Edward's Baseball team hosted Arkansas Fort Smith in a pivotal Heartland Conference series Thursday afternoon. The Hilltoppers pulled off back-to-back comeback victories in epic fashion as they found themselves trailing by four runs in each game.
Game 1UA Fort Smith (19-10, 8-4 HC) struck early, manufacturing a run in the first inning and scoring again in the second inning by way of a solo home run. However, St. Edward's (26-8, 12-2 HC) would rally back in the bottom half of the second inning with some extra base hits of its own.
Joe Olson started the inning off with a line drive single to left field. JD Arrowood followed Olson with a triple to the left field gap, which cut the deficit in half.
KEVIN MAYO lifted a deep drive to right field that ultimately resulted in a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 2-2. Despite having two outs and no runners on base, St. Edward's tacked on another run before the inning was over.
JONATHAN DAVIS singled and moved to second by way of a passed ball just before
CUTTER RUNTE launched a double to the right field to give the Hilltoppers a 3-2 lead.
Arkansas Fort Smith would jump out to a 7-3 lead after scoring three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth inning. Head Coach Rob Penders would go to his bullpen in the fourth inning and they combined for three innings of hitless work.
St. Edward's would find a plethora of runs in the fifth inning as they compiled six hits and were helped by three errors by the Lions.
A.J. HERMANSON started the inning with a double past the third baseman, but would come around to score on the very next pitch as
GABLE WHITACRE ripped a single to left field.
JOSEPH OLSON would take a patient approach at the plate and hit an opposite double down the right field line to score Whitacre and bring the Hilltoppers to within 7-5. Arrowood would rip a double to bring Olson home and the Lions would go to their bullpen shortly after.
Jordan Hammer was welcomed to the game with a
KEVIN MAYO single that advanced Arrowood to third. Wes Harris reached base on an error and Arrowood would come home on the play to tie it at 7-7. Davis would try to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over from first and second, however the third baseman would throw the ball down the right field line which allowed Mayo to score and Harris to reach third base. After
CUTTER RUNTE grounded out to bring Harris into score, the Lions would commit their third error of the inning and Whitacre would single in Mayo to round out the scoring for the Hilltoppers in their 10-7 victory.
The duo of
DAN BECKS and
CAM HATCH would shut the door on the Lions in the sixth and seventh inning. Hatch would pick up his eighth save of the season and
ERIC HESTER would receive the win as he retired the only two batters he faced in the fifth inning.
Game 2St. Edward's would strike early as
NATE TURNER began the first inning with a leadoff double for the Hilltoppers. Hermanson moved him over to third base by way of a sacrifice bunt and Whitacre would lift a sacrifice fly to give the Hilltoppers a 1-0 lead.
St. Edward's starter
BRYCE DAVIS gave up a run in the second inning but would battle back to keep the Lions at bay for the next three innings. Fort Smith would add a run in the sixth inning with a leadoff double and a single, but the Hilltoppers would once again answer with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to make it, 2-2.
Mayo reached on a fielder's choice, but would hustle his way to third as the Lions starter skipped a pick off throw past the first baseman. Wes Harris would step to the plate and rip a pitch into centerfield to bring Mayo home and tie the game. St. Edward's would take the lead just an inning later as Runte came into the game and rip a single to right. A throwing error would allow him to make his way to third and he would score by way of an Olson sacrifice fly to give the Hilltoppers a 3-2 lead.
Fort Smith would flashed some more power at the plate in the eighth inning as they would tack on three runs with some small ball. The Lions would extend the lead to 7-3 in the ninth inning before the Hilltoppers got to work on a massive comeback effort.
Turner ripped his first homerun of the season to start the inning and bring some life to the Hilltopper dugout. Shortly after, Hermanson smoked a double to left center and Whitacre drew a walk to bring big
J.D. ARROWOOD to the plate as the tying run. Arrowood turned on an inside fastball and drilled it into the netting over the right field fence to tie the game, 7-7.
With one out and the game tied, Mayo drew a walk to keep the inning going. He stole second to put himself in scoring position and after a strikeout;
JONATHAN DAVIS would step to the plate looking to play the role of the hero. After taking the first pitch, Davis reached out over the plate and laced a groundball the narrowly stayed fair down the first base line. Mayo turned on the jets to score and Davis was met with a mob of Hilltoppers as they pulled off the 8-7-comeback victory.
VITO LORENZINI was credited with the victory as retired the two batters he faced in the ninth inning. Head Coach Rob Penders said, "Our guys came out of the bullpen and kept us in the first game which was nice to see. Our offense got hot at the right time and it was also nice to see." When asked about the second game Penders spoke highly of his offense's will to win. "They think they can win at anytime, and when we execute the things we teach them to do this team can be scary. I can't give you a better example of how dangerous we can be when we put together good at-bats. Nate started us off with the homerun, JD hit his homerun to tie it, Mayo works a walk the next at bat and Jonathon hits the single to win it. Things just carry over and our offense was very potent today."
With each game going back-and-forth between the two teams, Penders implored that his team must clean up the mistakes in order to finish the series sweep tomorrow. "I told the guys we needed to clean some things up on defense and take care of our jobs. We need to get ahead of their guys and that's been our bread and butter this year. We know we're always going to get a good fight from Fort Smith."
St. Edward's will complete its series with Arkansas Fort Smith Friday afternoon. First pitch of Friday's action is set for noon at Lucian-Hamilton Field. Live coverage can be found on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.
