ABILENE, Texas – A lightning delay of nearly two hours had both McMurry University and Hardin-Simmons University sitting around for nearly as long as they played baseball, but in the end McM fell by a 5-1 score at Walt Driggers Field.  Both teams have identical 8-13 records after the local matchup.
 
After McMurry starting pitcher Tyler Jenkins retired HSU in order in the top of the first, McM scored its first – and as it would turn out, only – run of the game in the bottom half of the opening frame. Kevin Garza led off with a single to right.  Matthew Chalk then followed with a double down the leftfield line with Garza taking third.
 
That brought Jenkins to the plate. The McM junior promptly slugged a deep sacrifice fly to center which plated Garza, 1-0. It was Jenkins' team-leading 14th run batted in.
 
The Cowboys evened the game with a solo run in the third and took the lead, 2-1, with another run in the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, the War Hawks had a pair of runners in scoring position, but came up empty.
 
In the top of the sixth, Jenkins allowed a single to the Cowboys' Cody Berryman and threw just one pitch – a strike – to HSU's Garrett Buckner before action had to be halted at 8:11 p.m. due to lightning detected in the area.  The two teams - and the cache of fans from both schools - had to wait until 10:05 p.m. until action could be resumed, a delay of 1:54 hours.
 
When the game restarted, Chase Stone took the mound for McM and was greeted by a double from Buckner, nearly two hours after he started the at-bat. Berryman came home with the run charged to Jenkins. Another RBI single gave the visitors from the north side of town a 4-1 cushion.
 
An HSU run in the ninth made it the final 5-1 score.
 
Garza had half of the War Hawks' hits, going 3-for-4 for the evening, including one of two doubles by McM.