ABILENE, Texas – Tyler Jenkins went six strong inning on the mound to lead McMurry University to a 6-4 victory over Howard Payne University at Walt Driggers Field. The win by the War Hawks (10-14) over the Yellow Jackets (9-8) snapped McM's four-game skid.
 
Jenkins – who is also head coach John Byington's designated hitter – evened his pitching record at 1-1. Jenkins scattered six hits and two earned runs (out of four permitted). He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
 
Thus far in 2016, Jenkins has 14 strikeouts and just one walk in his 18 innings pitched.
 
Three subsequent McM relievers – Aaron Donald, Ricky Lopez and Juan Valadez – gave their team one hitless inning, apiece. Valadez notched two "K's" in the ninth to record his team –leading fourth save of the season.
 
After HPU pushed across two runs in the opening at-bats, McMurry would plate all of their runs for the night in their half of the second. The War Hawks would send 11 men to the plate and – when the dust had settled – have six runs to their credit.
 
Matt Chalk opened matters with a walk and was quickly back in the dugout when the next batter – Chris Baker – cracked a double to left-center that drove in Chalk and get McM on the board. A wild pitch advanced Baker to third and he came home on Robert White's single up the middle, 2-2. White was erased after an errant pickoff attempt advanced him to second, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it to third.
 
With one down, Noah Clarkson reached on a single and catcher Taylor Ward reached on a fielding error. After a fly out for the second out of the frame, freshman Jordan Speck singled to left to bring in Clarkson, with Ward stopping at second, putting McMurry on top, 3-2.
 
Ty Kirk, McM's leading batter, then slapped a base-clearing double to right-center that extended the War Hawks advantage to 5-2. Jenkins then helped his own cause with the bat by singling to left center to make it 6-2.
 
HPU added two unearned runs in the sixth following a pair of McM errors, 6-4. In all, the War Hawks committed six miscues on the day.
 
But while the McM offense would only get one more hit after the second inning outburst, the War Hawk pitchers kept the Yellow Jackets at bay the rest of the way.
 
Speck and Kirk – hitting Nos. 2 and 3 in the batting order – each went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Kirk had a pair of RBI and Speck drove in one. 
 
McMurry opens a three-game home series versus the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday with a single game at 7 p.m. at Walt Driggers Field.