Game 2 Box

ABILENE, Texas – McMurry and Hardin-Simmons' rivalries in the athletics arena produce exciting and intense contests year in and year out. Perhaps one of the wildest baseball games the rivalry has ever seen on the diamond took place Saturday afternoon when McMurry took a 15-14 win in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the series and complete a doubleheader sweep.

Derek Saltzgaber hit a bases-loaded pop fly to right field to sacrifice home Jake Mullin for the winning run in the bottom of the ninth and finally put to rest the incessant Cowboys.

Trailing 8-3, HSU's Jay Hiller highlighted a six-run top of the sixth with a grand slam that gave the Cowboys their second lead of the game at 9-8. McMurry scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to re-gain the advantage at 12-9. However, Regan Dixon knocked a three-run homer over the centerfield wall to knot the score at 12 in the top of the eighth.

McMurry took the lead again in the bottom of the eighth 14-12. thanks to an RBI double from Greg Guse, his fifth RBI of the game, and a run-scoring single from Michael Dibiasi. Once again, HSU answered with two outs in the top of the ninth when LeJuan Edwards hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, that tied the game at 14.

Then, to begin the bottom of the ninth, HSU's Tyler Brunnemann gave up three consecutive singles to Mullin, Matt Thompson and Jeff Jackson to load the bases. On a 2-2 count, Saltzgaber hit a deep fly to right field and Hiller had his back towards home plate when he caught the ball, which allowed Mullin to come home to score the game winner.

All in all, the lead changed five times while the two clubs combined for 38 hits. More importantly, the victory put the two teams along with Mary Hardin-Baylor in three-way tie for second place in the ASC West Division. Texas Lutheran will take the No. 1 seed in the ASC Postseason Tournament while the tie-breaking procedure gives Hardin-Simmons the No. 2 seed, UMHB the third seed and McMurry the final spot from the ASC West.

Guse finished with four runs scored and five RBI including the junior second baseman's first career home run, a three-run shot in the third inning. Dibiasi finished 5 for 5 with two RBI while Dylan De Leon and Jackson each had three RBI apiece.

The pitching coach's nightmare ended with Cory Davis as the winning pitcher for McMurry while Tyler Brunnemann suffered his first loss of the season out of the bullpen.

HSU's Edwards, Dixon and Hiller all finished with four RBI apiece to lead the Cowboys offensively.

McMurry's regular season ended with a  21-19 overall record and finished 13-8 in league play. McMurry is likely headed to Tyler for best-of-three series with the No. 1 seed from the east division, UT-Tyler to open the ASC Tournament, although official pairings won't be announced until Sunday night. HSU will play host to the No. 3 seed in the east division Friday and Saturday and finished its regular season with an identical 21-19 overall record and a 13-8 league record.

Below is a recap of game one of Saturday's doubleheader:

Game 1 – McMurry 6 Hardin-Simmons 1 Box Score

Dakota Smith's seventh win of the season on the mound was the difference as McMurry was able to force a rubber match taking a 6-1 victory over Hardin-Simmons. Smith threw his second complete game of the season and allowed just five hits while McMurry sealed the game offensively with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

After leading 2-1 for much of the game, Michael Dibiasi, Derek Saltzgaber and Matt Thompson all had RBI hits for McMurry while Jake Mullin had a sacrifice fly that scored a run to help McMurry break the game open in the bottom of the sixth. Mullin finished the game with two RBI, but Smith was the story.

Smith allowed his only run in the top of the third when Regan Dixon tripled and then came around to score on Smith's error when he tried to pick off Dixon at third. Smith walked only one and struck out four in his 50th career appearance as a McMurry pitcher.

Dixon was the only player with two hits in the Cowboys lineup. Kyle D'Alessio fell to 2-3 on the season. He faced two batters in the sixth, but finished with five innings; he surrendered eight hits, four runs, walked five and struck out one in the losing effort.