BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne baseball team completes its weekend sweep over Sul Ross State University Saturday afternoon with a 5-2 win in game one and a 4-3 walk-off win in game two.
In game one, the Sul Ross Lobos got on the board first bringing in one run in the first inning when Brian Mata brought in Spencer Mailman from third base on a ground out to the short stop.
HPU answered that in the bottom of the third with three runs off of four consecutive singles from Jordan Hammontree, Taylor Zambreski, Ben Butler, and Carlton Brown. That would take the score to 3-1.
The Yellow Jackets starting pitcher Gilbert Barrera took over from there throwing five scoreless innings from the second to the sixth. For the game, he would allow just three hits and two earned runs, with six strikeouts.
The Jackets added to their lead in the sixth inning with two more runs off three consecutive singles. Sam Dollahite would bring in the first run of the inning when he hit a single down the left field line scoring Dustin Cole from third. Next Kevin Young would score on a wild pitch from Lobo pitcher Royce Selvera. The two runs would prove vital, taking the Jackets lead from two runs and doubling it to four, 5-1.
In the bottom the seventh, HPU pitcher Barrera would get the first two outs and allow one more Lobo run to come in before handing the ball over to closer Corey Howie for the last out and the save.
Sul Ross pitcher Selvera recorded the loss and had seven strikeouts, allowing five earned runs on 11 hits.
In game two, HPU would have to make a comeback in order to get the 4-3 walk-off win.
Unlike the two games before in the series, the Jackets would be the first team to get the lead. It would come in the bottom of the first when Jordan Hammontree would hit his third collegiate home run and his first of the 2011 season to deep left-center for the early 1-0 lead.
After that, the Lobos would score three unanswered runs with one in the second and two in the third.
The Lobos’ first run would come when Pedro Saenz singled to center field scoring Brian Lalima from second base. In the third, two HPU errors allowed the Lobos get runners on base and knock in two runs.
Dollahite started the fifth inning off with a single. Ryan Abbott’s infield bunt-single would move him to second. Next a pass ball would then move players over to into scoring position. Zambreski came through with the clutch hit, smacking a single into right field scoring both Dollahite and Abbott. The two runs tied the game at three with four innings to go.
After three scoreless innings from both teams, the game would come down to the ninth inning to decide the game. Jacket’s pitcher Billy Ray Cruz ended his day after the eighth inning with seven strikeouts against just three walks, allowing just one earned run on six hits.
In the top of the ninth, the Jackets sent Corey Howie to come in to finish the game for Cruz. Howie would do that job quite well, getting his first batter to strike out looking, the second to ground out to first and the third batter to pop out to left field.
That sent the game tied into the bottom of the ninth where the Jackets would get their second walk-off win of the weekend series.
To start the ninth inning off, Cole would draw a four-pitch walk. Next, Will Garlick would then lay down a sacrifice bunt moving Cole to second. To end the game, Keving Young hit a hard liner down the third base line that would take an awkward bounce off the infield grass and then off the Sul Ross third basemen. Cole took advantage of the bounce and scored the winning run with a play at the plate, 4-3.
The Jackets go to 8-13 overall and 4-5 in American Southwest Conference play, while the Lobos drop to 11-13 and 3-6 in the ASC.
The next game for the Jackets will be at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 29 against Tarleton University in Stephenville.
