LAREDO, Texas – St. Edward's baseball batted over .400 as a team and surrendered just two earned runs Friday in its doubleheader sweep of Texas A&M-International, winning game one 15-4 and game two 4-2.
 
STUART SPRINGER (7-2) earned the victory in the opener with a complete-game effort. BALLARD INFANTE (5-3) pitched 7.1 innings on his way to the win in game two. JACOB VASQUEZ moved from second base to pitch and earned his second save of the season in game two.
 
BLAKE ALEXANDER led the way at the plate, going 5-for-8 with three runs and three RBI. TJ GISELBACH, GABLE WHITACRE, and Zach Schindler all hit home runs for the Hilltoppers. Giselbach and Whitacre both finished with four RBI apiece.
 
St. Edward's (25-17, 11-9 Heartland) extends its winning streak to three games. Texas A&M-International (10-27, 4-13 Heartland) has lost six straight games.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game One (St. Edward's 15, Texas A&M-International 4)
W – Springer (7-2) L – Torres (1-8)

• Back-to-back singles from Whitacre and Alexander put St. Edward's ahead 2-0 in the first inning.
• WILLIAM HAIRSTON's sacrifice fly in the second inning made it 3-0, Hilltoppers.
• Three straight Hilltopper errors in the bottom of the second frame gave the Dustdevils two runs.
• St. Edward's poured on five runs and five hits in the third inning, opening up an 8-2 lead.
• A home run from Giselbach in the fourth inning and another from Whitacre in the fifth inning sealed the deal.
• TAMU-International managed two runs in the final two frames.

 
Game Two (St. Edward's 4, Texas A&M-International 2)
W – Infante (5-3) L – Raya (1-6) S – Vasquez (2)

• Five combined hits over the first three innings resulted in no runs for either team.
• HUNTER COURSON broke the silence with a RBI single in the top of the fourth inning.
• Schindler hit his second home run of the season in the fifth frame to give SEU a 2-0 lead.
• The Dustdevils scraped out an unearned run in the sixth inning.
• A pair of insurance runs on four hits in the eighth frame was all St. Edward's needed.
• TAMU-International mounted a rally in the final innings, but Vasquez came on in relief to stall the effort.

 
HILLTOPPER NOTES

• St. Edward's is 46-9 in the all-time series with Texas A&M-International.
• ROMEO CORTINA has reached base safely in 24 straight games.
• The Hilltoppers lead the Heartland Conference in home runs, slugging percentage and total bases.

 
QUOTE BOARD: HEAD COACH ROB PENDERS
"It was two very different games, but one constant was our pitching. Stuart (Springer) and Ballard (Infante) gave us two gutsy starts, and that allowed our offense to relax and score a lot of runs in the first game. Then, we had to battle and scrape together some runs in the second game. Tomorrow will be a challenge against their best pitcher, and hopefully completing the sweep."
 
UP NEXT
St. Edward's closes the series with a single game Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Uni-Trade Stadium. Live stats will be available at GoHilltoppers.com.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: St. Edward's 15-4, Texas A&M-International 4-2
Records: St. Edward's (25-17, 11-9 Heartland), Texas A&M-International (10-27, 4-13 Heartland)
Attendance: 200
 
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.