The Howard Payne University men’s baseball fought hard Saturday against the McMurry University War Hawks to avoid the sweep grabbing the last game of the series 8-7, after losing the first game 10-9.
Jordan Hammontree would break the HPU school record for triples in a career, hitting two in the double header to take his career total as a Jacket to 15. For the day, he was a combined 3-7, with three RBI’s and one run scored.
Dustin Cole also had a big day going 4-7 with three RBI’s, three runs scored and two doubles.
In the first game, the Jackets dug a deep hole early, down 7-2 after just two innings. The War Hawks would tack on one more in the forth and fifth innings, but the Jackets would answer back with three and two in those innings to find themselves down 9-7 after five innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ben Butler and Chase Holmes, who had combined 0-6 at the plate, hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game 9-9.
But in the top of the seventh, the War Hawks got in one more run on a fielding error by third basemen Holmes, to break the tie and ultimately win the first seven-inning game, 10-9.
In the second game, the War Hawks and Jackets would swap runs through the first four innings for a 3-3 tie game. From there, McMurry would score four unanswered. The first two came in the fifth with two-outs when Tyler Cox hit a two RBI double. In the sixth, Matt Thompson would add two more when he hit a two RBI triple down the left field line to take the score to 7-3 through sixth innings.
The Jackets would again fight back and not let down, answering with two more in the sixth. Dustin would knock in the first one, hitting a bloop-single that would score Sam Dollahite from third base. Next Jordan Hammontree would hit his record breaking triple to left-center field, scoring Cole around from first to bring the game to 5-7.
The game would go to the ninth, with the Jackets down two. In the bottom of the ninth, the Jackets would start the inning off with three straight doubles from Butler, Holmes and Reed Klose tying the game up at seven. After that, the Jackets would then load the bases after two walks. The game would end when relief pitch Jake Mullin threw a wild pitch in the dirt to score pinch runner Kevin Young from third.
Corey Howie would get the win for the Jackets, coming in out of the bullpen to pitch 3.2 one-hit innings, allowing no earned runs, no walks and striking out six batters.
The Jackets go to 11-18 overall on the year and 6-9 in American Southwest Conference play. McMurry drops to 10-21 overall and 7-8 in the ASC.
The next series for the Jackets will start at 2:00 p.m. Friday, April 15 against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas.
