ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University Baseball picked up its second win in a row on Friday night, sending the Walt Driggers crowd home happy with a 5-4 victory over LeTourneau to open a three-game American Southwest Conference series.
The War Hawks (2-9, 1-6 ASC) earned its first home win of the season behind a season high 13 hits – four of which were of the multi-base variety – while slowing down the YellowJackets (5-10, 3-4 ASC) in the final two frames to squeak out the win.
Despite a slow start that saw two unearned runs cross for LETU, the War Hawks tied the game back up in the second and third inning with RBI hits from juniors Reed Hodges and Nick Hamel.
Later in the game, McMurry improved its lead with three more unanswered runs, powered by a fifth inning two-run bomb by senior Ryan Potter and a second RBI single by Hamel in the sixth inning. Potter extended a four-game hit streak and run streak with the go-ahead homer.
Junior pitcher Derek Hostas dealt a quality start into the seventh inning with no earned runs against him, but allowed a two-RBI triple in the seventh to allow LeTourneau to pull within one run at 5-4. He finished his day with 6.2 innings, four runs on nine hits, two earned runs, no walks and four strikeouts for his first win of the campaign.
Leaving with the decision still in hand, Hostas turned things over to freshman Dylan Schafer. The rookie righty recorded the final out of the seventh inning, stranding the tying run on third with just one pitch. Schafer impressed in the final two frames, retiring six straight for his first collegiate save. He recorded two punch outs in the process.
Four players had multi-hit days, led by the hot bat of senior Kyle Keever with a 3-for-4 day. Potter, Hamel and senior Jonah Bailey each had a pair of hits. Keever and Hodges recorded doubles and freshman Blake Beach picked up his first collegiate triple in the win.
Beach has now hit safely in seven of the last eight games – including six straight – while Bailey joined Potter with his four game hit streak. Bailey leads the War Hawks with a .367 average for the season, while Potter owns a .348 average, an .826 slugging percentage and a 1.255 OPS.
Pitchers of record:
W – Derek Hostas (1-2)
L – Jared Schurig (1-2)
S – Dylan Schafer (1)
The series will be decided in a doubleheader tomorrow at 1 p.m.
