TYLER, Texas – St. Edward's baseball scored four unanswered runs in a rain-interrupted 4-3 win over the UT Tyler Patriots to open the three-game road series.
Back-to-back walks thrown by St. Edward's starter
JACK GRANACK set up Austin Ochoa's two-out RBI single through the left side, giving UT Tyler a run in the bottom of the first. Granack recovered to prevent more Patriots runs until the fifth inning when a throwing error with two outs allowed two unearned runs to score.
After leaving seven runners stranded through five innings, including bases loaded in the fourth, St. Edward's broke through with three runs in the sixth.
DIEGO SOLIS sparked the Hilltoppers with a leadoff single up the middle. After
KYLER KERLIN went down swinging,
DAVIS DREWEK singled through the right side, then
WESTON SYMES followed a
DILLON FLORES strikeout with a single through the left to load the bases.
TREVOR SEBEK reached on a catcher's interference to score one run, then
CARLO FIGUEROA tied the game with a two-RBI double to left field, with Sebek thrown out trying to score to end the inning.
St. Edward's carried the momentum into the bottom of the inning when Granack retired the side in order. The Hilltoppers scored the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout from Solis, which scored
CONNOR COX, who had a leadoff double and moved over on a sacrifice bunt.
Granack and the Hilltopper defense shut out the first two Patriots at the bottom of the seventh before the weather forced both teams to retreat for the night. When play resumed the next day,
AUSTIN ESSEX took the mound and shut out the Patriots, allowing only a single baserunner to reach due to an error to pick up the save.
St. Edward's got great production from Figueroa and Cox at the top of the lineup, hitting 3-for-4 and 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored from the No. 2 and 3 spots. Kerlin, Drewek, and Symes had two hits each. Granack went 6.2 innings with four strikeouts, and only one of the three runs scored earned to pick up his first win of the season. The Hilltoppers improve to 11-12 with a 10-10 conference record.