AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's baseball's offense picked up steam as the game wore on, and relief pitcher AUSTIN ESSEX got the Hilltoppers out of a rough situation to open the four-game series against Texas Permian Basin with a 9-6 win.
CULLEN AINSWORTH put St. Edward's on the board first with a two-run blast to left field in the top of the third inning, marking Ainswoth's ninth of the season with a home run in four consecutive games.
Texas Permian Basin answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring on an RBI double from Brent Rigtrup and tying the game on an error.
Texas Permian Basin starting pitcher Trevor Barth lost control in the sixth inning, walking LUKE JOHNSON and JOSH GRAHAM back-to-back before exiting the game. St. Edward's did well against Texas Permian Basin's bullpen, welcoming Ryan Robinson (L, 1-1) with a WESTON SYMES RBI double after HUNTER CONNER bunted into a fielder's choice out at third.
Austin Raleigh replaced Robinson and was greeted by TREVOR SEBEK's two-RBI double, scoring Conner and Symes for the 5-2 lead.
The Falcons got one run back on two hits in the bottom of the inning, scoring Mason Hamlin on an RBI single from Ethan Flodstrom. They added another in the seventh, opening the inning with back-to-back singles, a sacrifice bunt, a hit batter, and a walk with bases loaded to score.
St. Edward's exploded for four runs with two outs in the eighth inning. Graham opened the inning by getting hit by Texas Permian Basin's fourth pitcher of the day, Ivan Castro, who Andrew Troppmann replaced.
Troppmann retired the next two hitters only to have Sebek spark St. Edward's with an RBI triple. Then, Texas Permian Basin intentionally walked Conner Cox, and LANCE LITTLE made them pay with an RBI double, followed by DAVIS DREWEK's two-RBI single. Trey Penny replaced Troppmann and finished out the game with 1.1 scoreless innings.
St. Edward's got 8.1 innings out of starting pitcher WESLEY GAFFORD (W, 3-2), who surrendered six earned runs on ten hits with four strikeouts. Gafford gave up back-to-back singles to open the bottom of the ninth before getting Jack Haggerty to fly out to right field for the first out.
Then, Gafford hit Hamlin to load the bases, ending his day with Essex replacing him. Essex walked two runs in but struck out Ciesielski and got MacKenzie to foul out to pick up the save.
St. Edward's improves to 13-5 with an 11-5 conference record after the win. The Hilltoppers and Falcons will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon.
