Baseball Splits With Sul Ross

Abram Choate, SID

BROWNWOOD, Texas - Howard Payne played two hard fought games against Sul Ross State; dropping the first one 8-11 and rallying back to win game two 11-10 on Saturday at Don Shepard Park. 

The Jackets were on the board first scoring 4 off of 4 hits in the first inning. Sul Ross took advantage of 2 HPU errors in the second to go ahead 5-4. Royce Rodriquez led off with a single to centerfield for the Jackets in the bottom of the second. After 2 more hits the Jackets ended up taking back their lead 8-5. Sul Ross held off the Jackets the rest of the game winning 11-8. The Lobos out hit the Jackets 15-11 and the Jackets had 4 defensive errors. 

Garrett Isom had a good game one at the plate going 3-4 with 3 RBI while Ryan Breeding also went 2-4 with 1 RBI. Dustin Climer recorded the Jackets loss and Alonza Amancia grabbed the win for the Lobos. 

Game two was an all out offensive battle. With the wind blowing out to left field both teams took advantage. Sul Ross put up 2 runs while Howard Payne put up 1 in the first. After the Lobos went ahead 4-1 in the third the Jackets answered back with 2 runs shortening their lead. The sixth inning was a big inning for both teams. Sul Ross knocked in 4 runs off of 5 singles. Howard Payne refused to let up and punched in 3 runs of their own. 

The Jackets buckled down on defensive and didn't allow the Lobos to score in the next two innings. After an eventful seventh, with a Jackets' player getting tossed, Howard Payne livened up and hit the ground running. Going into the last inning with a tied game at 9-9, the Jackets only allowed 1 run in the top of the inning. 

Down 9-10 in the bottom of the ninth Isom reached after being hit by a pitch making him the tying run. Will Garlick pinch ran for Isom. Cale Thompson came up and singled through the right side advancing Garlick to third. With the winning run standing on first, Breeding drove in the tying run while Thompson moved to third. Thompson got thrown out at the plate off a fielder's choice making the game 10-10 with two outs. Dustin Climer came through in the clutch singling to center field scoring Breeding for the win. 

Jordan Hammontree went 4-4 with 1 RBI for Howard Payne and Climer, with the winning RBI, went 4-5. Eric Mata led the Lobos going 3-4 with 2 RBI. The Jacket's pitcher Chase LaPenna recorded the win while Lucas Garza got the loss for the Lobos. 

After today's double header Howard Payne moves to 12-15 overall and 5-7 in ASC play while Sul Ross moves to 4-25 overall and 3-9 in ASC play. 

The Jackets will play their next game away at Hardin Simmons University on Friday at 7:00 pm.
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