Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's baseball continues to roll with its ninth consecutive win after sweeping today's doubleheader against Oklahoma Christian.
Game 1: St. Edward's 7, Oklahoma Christian 2
Oklahoma took an early 2-0 lead, but St. Edward's gained steam as the game progressed to pick up a 7-2 win over Oklahoma Christian.
Blake Empkey hit a two-run blast off St. Edward's starting pitcher JACK GRANACK in the first after the latter hit Preston King to open the inning. After that, Granack (W, 5-3) settled in, striking out six with only two hits and two walks surrendered.
St. Edward's broke through with two runs in the third, opening the inning with back-to-back singles from HUNTER CONNER and WESTON SYMES. After TREVOR SEBEK executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third, Oklahoma Christian starter Naut Kragt plunked CONNOR COX to load the bases. LANCE LITTLE capitalized with a two-RBI single to tie the game.
The Hilltoppers took the lead with four runs in the fifth. Cox hit a one-out double to left field, advanced on a passed ball, then scored on a wild pitch. Then, Little drew a walk, and CULLEN AINSWORTH hit a single to put runners on the corners.
DAVIS DREWEK pinch-hit for Luke Johson and drove in Little with a double to right field, ending Kragt's afternoon before AJ MYERS replaced Drewek as a pinch runner. Andrew Alonzo replaced Kragt, and JOSH GRAHAM welcomed him with an RBI single to right field. MATTHEW GILES followed with a sacrifice bunt to score Myers for the 6-2 lead.
St. Edward's opened the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back singles, setting up Cox's sacrifice fly to center field.
KEVIN SKWERES took the mound for St. Edward's to start the seventh and struck out the first hitter he faced, surrendering one hit with two flyouts to left field to end the game.
Game 2: St. Edward's 4, Oklahoma Christian
St. Edward's got another dominant start from LUKE SHORT and a strong finish from reliever AUSTIN ESSEX to sweep the doubleheader with a 4-1 win.
Short set the tone, striking out the first two Oklahoma Christian hitters and retiring the side in order. He followed that by striking out the side in the second and third innings.
Oklahoma Christian picked up its first two hits in the fourth before Short struck out Johnson, and the defense got out of the inning with consecutive outs.
St. Edward's put a run on board in the third, manufacturing it with assembly line precision. HUNTER CONNER led off with a bunt for a single, then WESTON SYMES moved him over with a sacrifice bunt. Then, Conner stole third, and TREVOR SEBEK drove him in with a single to left field.
The Hilltoppers scored another run in the fourth. LUKE JOHNSON sparked the Hilltoppers with a leadoff double to left field, and JOSH GRAHAM walked. Next, MATTHEW GILES reached on a fielder's choice, with Johnson scoring on an error.
Oklahoma Christian broke through with its first run in the fifth on a walk, single, and error for the unearned run.
St. Edward's added two more runs in the sixth. Johnson belted a leadoff home run. Graham followed with an infield single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Giles RBI single to center field.
Oklahoma Christian opened with two more singles to start the seventh, ending Short's afternoon with 12 strikeouts, one walk, seven hits, and no earned runs in six innings. Essex replaced him and hit Jackson to load the bases but retired the next three hitters to pick up the save.
Short reached double-digit strikeouts for the fifth time this season, making it three consecutive games getting double figures. It's the fourth time this season Short posted 12 strikeouts. Essex earned his second save.
Johnson was 2-for-2 with an RBI, and two runs scored. Cox hit 2-for-3 with a walk. Sebek, Graham, Giles, and Conner each had a hit, with Graham and conner scoring a run and Giles driving in an RBI.
St. Edward's improves to 26-6 with a 24-6 conference record with the third win in three games this series. The Hilltoppers and Eagles will wrap up the series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. game.
