Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
CLEBURNE, Texas – Bring out the Powder Blue jerseys! The St. Edward's baseball team advances to the Heartland Conference Baseball Tournament championship game after pushing Lubbock Christian around Friday, 21-10 at The Depot at Cleburne Station. The Hilltoppers had five batters register multiple hits and multiple RBIs, including DEREK RAMOS who set new career single game-highs with four hits and four stolen bases, and BLAKE ALEXANDER who hit his second grand slam this season.    
 
The Hilltoppers (32-19) wasted no time and scored four runs in their first at bat capped off by TJ Gislebach's three-run shot for his seventh homer of the year. Chaparrals' (33-19) Scotland Church hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the inning, however, a pair of RBIs from BLAKE HOLUB and ROBBIE LAMMONS in the third buffered SEU's lead back to four. After both clubs exchanged a run in the fourth, SEU jumped out to a 13-5 lead with six runs in the fifth, in large part due to Alexander's second grand slam of the season. Lubbock trimmed the lead to 14-10 with five runs in the fifth inning, but the Hilltoppers gave them another six-piece in the ninth and retired the bottom in order to seal the 21-10 win.
 
JUAN CORTINA (5-6) got the start and the win with four strikeouts and four walks in 6.1 innings, and JAKE DAVIS finished the last 2.2 innings. LCU's Ryan Johnson (6-5) was credited the loss and the Hilltoppers ran through their bullpen, forcing four pitchers to take their share of knocks.


 

HIGHLIGHTS
• SEU improves Heartland Conference Tournament win streak to 12.
• DEREK RAMOS' third hit was the 50^th of his career and set new career single-game highs with four hits and four stolen bases (4-for-6, 4R, 3 RBI, 4 SB).
• TJ Gislebach's HR was the 15^th of his SEU career, marking his 25^th career multiple RBI game (1-for-5, 3 RBI, R).
• BLAKE ALEXANDER's 2^nd hit was his 50^th this season, and also registered his 30^th career multiple-hit fame and 17^th multiple-RBI game of his career (2-for-4, 4 RBI, 3R).
• WILLIAM HAIRSTON tallied his 44^th multiple-hit game and 17^th multiple-RBI game of his career (3-for-6, 3 RBI, 2R, SB).
• ROBBIE LAMMONS logged his 12^th multiple-hit game this season (2-for-5, 3R, RBI, SB).
• MATTHEW JIMENEZ recorded his 3^rd and 4^th multiple-hit and multiple-RBI game of the season, respectively (2-for-6, 2 RBI, R).

STAT OF THE GAME I
21 – St. Edward's 21 runs is the second highest run total in the Heartland Conference Baseball Tournament (SEU def. UAFS 22-1 in 2015).
 
STAT OF THE GAME II
6 – St. Edward's recorded a new season-high with six stolen bases vs. Lubbock Christian

WHAT'S NEXT
The Hilltoppers punch their ticket to the championship game without a loss for the fourth consecutive year and will face the winner of tonight's elimination game between No. 2 seed St. Mary's and No. 3 Lubbock Christian. Tomorrow's title game is scheduled for noon with live stats and live stream made accessible at GoHilltoppers.com.

Follow St. Edward's Baseball all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @SEUBaseball.

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