AUSTIN, Texas – ROMEO CORTINA belted two home runs and junior HAYDEN BACH notched two saves Friday as St. Edward's baseball swept its doubleheader against Colorado School of Mines 4-3 and 7-5.

Cortina finished the day 4-for-6 at the plate with three runs and six RBI. He went 0-for-2 in game one before going 4-for-4 in game two. CARSON COX also went 4-for-6 with three runs and a RBI.
 
On the mound, Bach collected his first two saves of the season while giving up one hit over 3.1 shutout innings. BRANDON BOONE and TANNER LAWSON both earned wins in their third start of the season.

St. Edward's (6-3) has won five straight games after going 1-3 on opening weekend against Northeastern State. Colorado School of Mines (3-2) drops its first games of the year after a 3-0 start.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game One (St. Edward's 4-3)
W – Boone (2-1), L – Smythe (0-1), S – Bach (1)

• Mines took advantage of a failed pickoff in the first inning to make it 1-0.
• St. Edward's committed an error and threw two wild pitches in the third inning to help Mines pull ahead 2-1.
• GABLE WHITACRE, Cox, and TJ GISELBACH hit three straight singles in the bottom of the third to give the Hilltoppers a 3-2 lead.
• The Orediggers tied it in the top of the fourth frame thanks to another wild pitch.
• St. Edward's loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning and NICOLAS GARZA forced an RBI fielder's choice to score the go-ahead run.
• Bach threw two pitches in the top of the seventh before Whitacre clinched the win by throwing out an Oredigger runner attempting to steal second base.

 
Game Two (St. Edward's 7-5)
W – Lawson (2-0), L – Pennington (0-1), S – Bach (2)

• The Hilltoppers forced two quick outs in the opening frame before Mines struck with a pair of runs.
• A pickoff attempt gone bad and Oredigger triple gave Mines a 2-0 lead.
• Cortina provided St. Edward's response in the bottom of the first with a three-run home run, scoring Cox and WILLIAM HAIRSTON.
• The Orediggers retook the lead with two unearned runs in the top of the second.
• Mines extended its lead in the fourth with a home run of its own to make it 5-3.
• Cortina struck again in the bottom of the fifth with another three-run home run that scored Cox and Hairston again.
• BLAKE ALEXANDER, MILES WRIGHT and HUNTER COURSON helped preserve the Hilltoppers' lead in the top of the sixth with a relay home to save a run.
• Alexander added insurance for St. Edward's in the bottom of the eighth with a RBI single up the middle.
• Bach threw five pitches in the ninth to clinch the save. 

HILLTOPPER NOTES

• St. Edward's has won three straight against the Orediggers and is 3-1 in the all-time series.
• Cortina has two multi-home run games in his career after going 4-for-4 with four home runs against Oklahoma Christian last season.
• Bach is the first Hilltopper pitcher to record two saves in one day since Stephen Johnson accomplished it twice in 2012.
• As the leadoff hitter, Hairston has reached base in all nine games this year.

 
QUOTE BOARD: HEAD COACH ROB PENDERS
"The games weren't pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but you're not always going to play great baseball every day. You have to figure out ways to overcome that. Fortunately, we did enough in the first game to do it, and then Romeo's big swings in the second game got us over the top."
 
UP NEXT
St. Edward's closes the series against Mines with another doubleheader Saturday at 12 p.m. on Lucian-Hamilton Field. Live stats and video will be available at GoHilltoppers.com.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: St. Edward's 4-7, Colorado School of Mines 3-5
Records: St. Edward's (6-3), Colorado School of Mines (3-2)
Attendance: 386
 
For the latest information on the St. Edward's University Baseball team, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @SEUBaseball, or visit us at www.GoHilltoppers.com.