ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University baseball won its 10th-consecutive game with a 12-1 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University at Walt Driggers Field. The War Hawks improved to 13-3 overall in the team's first game at home since February 1.
McM's bats knocked out 15 hits, giving the War Hawks double-digit hit totals for the 10th time in 2015. It was also McMurry's eighth game in double figure runs. The McM team batting average improved to .321 as a unit, while the pitching staff lowered its earned run average to 2.18 for 136 innings pitched.
Junior
Ben Bates improved his personal record to 3-1 on the year with another masterful outing. Bates went seven full innings, striking out 12 Lions and walking none. Bates scattered six hits and allowed just one sixth inning run.
Tyler Jenkins and
Mike Hoffman both threw a scoreless inning of relief to close out the contest.
The top five batters in the War Hawks' lineup produced all but one of the team's hits in the game. Leftfielder
Ricky Garcia, batting in the No. 5 slot, had a huge day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and four runs batted in.
Catcher
Zack Hagan, the No. 4 hitter, matched Garcia at the plate, also going 4-for-5. Hagan scored three times and drove in a pair of runs. He slapped two doubles, as well as collecting 13 putouts, thanks to Bates' strikeout spree.
Leadoff man
Christian Simmons had a fourth-inning RBI double that pushed McM's lead at the time to 4-0. No. 2 batter
Patrick Adams went 3-for-5 and scored three times. By reaching in the first frame, Adams extended his personal hitting streak to 12 games and also crossed the plate with his team's first run of the day.
No. 3 batter
Cody Howard raised his team-leading batting average to .407 by going 2-for-4 versus the Lions. Howard scored three times and drove in one run.
Senior third baseman
Nick Marsh drove in a pair of runs, as well.
McM scored three times in its half of the first and fifth innings, as well as adding solo runs in the fourth and sixth. The War Hawks added a four-spot in the bottom of the eighth for the 12-1 final score.
