ABILENE- McMurry baseball met up with Southwestern for a three game conference series over the weekend in the Key City.
McMurry was looking to bounce back and reclaim their spot in the upper tier of the SCAC standings after getting swept at Trinity the weekend before. Southwestern came in right behind McMurry and were looking to pick up some wins of their own, as well.
GAME 1- Southwestern would jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but McMurry would answer with 3 of their own in the bottom half of the opening frame to put us at 3-3 after one inning of play. The War Hawks would continue their offensive momentum in the second frame as they plated across four more runs in the bottom of the second. The Pirates would battle back over the next couple of innings as they chipped away at the McMurry lead - cutting it to 7-6 after 4 innings of play. The offense would slow down throughout the second half of the contest as McMurry would shut the Pirates out for the rest of the game while only scoring 1 more run - leading us to a final score of 8-6 with the War Hawks being victorious. Collin Bruning had 3 RBI's & Riley Hood had 2 hits with an RBI.
GAME 2- McMurry would strike first in this one, as they held Southwestern scoreless in the top half of the first before they were able to score 2 in the bottom half. The Pirates answered with 1 in the top of the second, but McMurry would respond with 1 of their own. Offense was hard to come by in this one for most of the contest, as we were in a tight one at 4-3 after seven innings of play before McMurry exploded for 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. McMurry took a 10-3 lead into the ninth and didn't give up any runs in the last frame, claiming game 2 and the series as they took both of the first two games. Collin Bruning & Michael Smosna both had 2 RBI's in Game 2.
GAME 3- Southwestern would draw first blood in the series finale in Game 3 as they held McMurry scoreless in the first before scoring 2 runs in the top of the second inning. The War Hawks were able to take the lead later on with a run in the fourth & three runs in the fifth. The Pirates will tie it up over the next couple innings as we went into the 9th inning with a 4-4 tie. Southwestern was able to score 3 in the top half of the 9th to put them up 7-4. McMurry was unable to rally one last time as Southwestern would end up winning the third and final game of the series; 7-4. Key hitters in this one were Josh Mueller & Koy Carpenter.
The War Hawks improved to 13-6 overall & 9-6 in conference play.
McMurry will be back in action on Tuesday night as they take on crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons at home at 7:00pm.
