LUBBOCK, Texas – St. Edward's baseball surrendered an eight-run fourth inning to the Lone Star Conference's top offensive team in a 14-8 loss to open the Lone Star Conference Tournament's first round.
The Hilltoppers held an early lead through the first three-and-a-half innings thanks to a four-run first inning started by a two-run home run hit by
DAVIS DREWEK.
LANCE LITTLE and
DILLON FLORES followed with a single and double through the left side, and after
TY MURRAY went down swinging,
DIEGO SOLIS hit an RBI single to right-center, and
RYAN FEDDERSEN followed with an RBI single.
St. Edward's defense had a three-up, three-down first inning, but Brevin McCool reached on an error to open the second and later scored as the Hilltopper defense turned a 5-4-3 double play.
Lubbock Christian gave the run back with an error of their own, allowing Feddersen to score after he hit a double, and
WESTON SYMES reached on a throwing error. St. Edward's added a fifth run on Solis's sac fly to left-center, driving in Little.
St. Edward's starting pitcher,
JACK GRANACK, continued to cruise through the game until the fourth, loading the bases with a walk and two singles but getting a double play to the plate and first. A walk reloaded the bases, and Jacob Gutierrez followed with an RBI single through the left side. McCool and Ryan Ball followed with back-to-back home runs to give the Chaps a 7-6 lead.
Granack walked Gibson, then Nate Van Maanen followed with an RBI double down the left-field line. After Frayner Chaves walked, St. Edward's turned to
GEORGE HETTRICK out of the bullpen, who surrendered an RBI single to Hayden Blair before striking out Carson Ogilvie to get out of the inning.
Little and Flores hit back-to-back singles to open the sixth inning, and Solis and Feddersen brought St. Edward's back to within one after back-to-back RBIs brought the score to 9-8.
Ball hit a leadoff home run in the sixth, and Lubbock Christian added four more runs in the seventh, scoring on a wild pitch, a two-run McCool RBI, and an RBI triple from Gibson.
Solis led St. Edward's with three RBIs on 2-for-4 hitting. Drewek had two RBI and hit 2-for-5. Little, Feddersen, and Symes also had two hits. Flores was 3-for-4 with a run scored. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
