Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
CANYON, Texas – The St. Edward's baseball team fought off elimination by defeating tournament host No. 6 West Texas A&M, 13-3 Friday at Wilder Park. JUAN CORTINA registered his third complete game on the bump this season, tallying seven strikeouts with his fourth being the 125^th of his career. WILLIAM HAIRSTON totaled a new individual game-high of five hits, drove in two runs and scored twice.  
 
The Hilltoppers (34-20) turned things on in the sixth inning as they trailed the Buffaloes (40-13), 1-0. DEREK RAMOS laced a leadoff double to right field, and after advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt, BLAKE HOLUB drove in the senior with a single to right field. Moments later, Holub touched home plate courtesy of a groundout RBI from DYLAN MACKIN for a 2-1 lead. After retiring the Buffs in order to close the stanza, Hairston took WTAMU's Darin Cook deep in the seventh for his ninth homer of the year, extending SEU's lead, 3-1.  It was all Hilltoppers from that point on as they retired the next six batters on defense, and exploded for 10 runs on nine hits in the final inning to seal the game.
 
The Buffaloes scored two more runs in the bottom half of the ninth thanks to a two-run shot by Tommy Williams with two outs, but Cortina (6-6) sat down Justice Nakagawa to shut the door and end the game. Cortina allowed seven hits and three runs.

 

HIGHLIGHTS
• The Hilltoppers pick up their first win vs. the Buffaloes in the NCAA South Central Region Tournament (1-1 all-time).
• This win marks the first for the Hilltoppers in the NCAA South Central Region Tournament since 2016 when they took down Lubbock Christian, 10-5.
• SEU retired nine consecutive batters starting in the sixth inning during its rally.
• WILLIAM HAIRSTON's 3rd hit of the game was the 150th of his career with the Hilltoppers. Hairston logged his 25^th multiple-hit game and his 9^th multiple RBI game this season.
• JUAN CORTINA eclipsed 125 career strikeouts with his 4^th punch-out on the day.
• ZACH SCHINDLER posted his 16^th multiple-hit game and 11^th multiple RBI game of his career (3-for-5, 2R, 2 RBI).
• TJ GISELBACH recorded his 15^th multiple-hit game this season (2-for-5, R, RBI).
• ROBBIE LAMMONS hit his first career triple with SEU and has totaled 13 multiple-hit games and 4 multiple RBI games in 2018 (2-for-4, 2R, 2 RBI).

STAT OF THE GAME I
9 – All nine of St. Edward's batters reached base safely in the win.
 
STAT OF THE GAME II
18 – St. Edward's totaled 18 hits, the second most on the season.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Hilltoppers move on to the next round to face Colorado Mesa in an elimination game at 3 p.m. Colorado Mesa dropped its first game of the tournament vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville, 13-10, and defeated Tarleton State, 3-2.

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

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