RICHARDSON, Texas - The Howard Payne University baseball team jumped out to an early 4-0 lead vs. Hardin-Simmons University on Saturday afternoon but the Cowboys were able to storm back and take the 9-7 victory in nine innings of play.

David Groves helped cap an excellent ASC tournament performance, finishing the game with two RBI's, a double, one run scored and a walk on 2-3 hitting and Noah Payne added three RBI's on 2-4 hitting. Howard Payne started the game with Matthew Parks on the mound but would use the services of four pitchers throughout the contest.

Parks did a fine job fighting off the bats of the Comets and helped to get the Jacket defense out of some tough spots before exiting the game after pitching four complete innings. Xavier Haines entered the game in the fourth, Wesley Smith would then take the ball for two inning's before Zach Moseley took over in hopes of prompting a Howard Payne rally.

The Jackets did most of their scoring damage in the first inning when Cliff Lunceford led off the game with an infield single to the second baseman. Joshua Gerig followed by hitting a ball to the exact same spot on the next at-bat. However, the liner ended up striking Lunceford as he was running to second and led to a runner's interference call. With one out, Brett Quackenbush put Gerig into scoring position with a single through the right side, and, after fielders choice two consecutive hits down the left line, the Jackets were able to bring in one run. 

A David Groves double down the left field line scored Lewis and Quackenbush and put Howard Payne in prime position with runners in scoring position. The Jackets would score one more time in the inning off a Noah Payne ground out to the infield. In an attempt to turn two, the Cowboys allowed Kyle Winstead to score an unearned run rather than make the play at home. The score put HPU up 4-0 after one-half inning of play.

In the bottom of the first inning, with Parks on the mound, the Cowboys collected a walk, a hit-by-pitch but the Jackets turned a 6-4-3 double play to eliminate the scoring threat. However, the runner on second was able to advance to third and would score on the next at-bat after a two-out single to right field to help cut the deficit to 4-1.

Bailey Smith led off the top of the second inning with a five-pitch walk and was moved into scoring position after Cliff Lunceford laid down the sacrifice bunt. Senior Brett Quackenbush brought him around with a hard hit groundball to right field and the Jackets went back up 5-1.

Despite the strong offensive start for Howard Payne, the Cowboys kept chipping away at the lead and would score one more run in the bottom of the second after putting runners into scoring position by drawing a walk and a fielder's choice. A two-out single to the right-center gap scored one runner and cut the deficit to 5-2.

The Jackets would be held scoreless by the Hardin-Simmons pitching staff over the third and fourth innings while the Cowboys were able to tack two more runs on the board in the bottom of the third to pull within one run, 5-4. They were able to get on base early and then used some intelligent baserunning to get players into scoring position. Both teams would go three up, three down in the fourth inning and then Howard Payne would attempt to put some distance between themselves and the Cowboys.

Quackenbush led off the inning by taking four straight balls to get the walk but Benjamin Lewis' ensuing at-bat resulted in a 4-6-3 double play and it seemed the Jackets would go another inning without scoring a run. However, Kyle Winstead lined a single to shortstop on the very next at-bat and David Groves worked a full count and took a walk to help put Howard Payne into scoring position. Noah Payne then stepped to the plate and drove a beautifully placed ball to left-center for a double, scoring two runs and extending HPU's lead to 7-4.

The Cowboy's scored three runs on seven hits in the bottom of the fifth to help steal the momentum and tie the game up at 7-7. The first three batters of the inning combined for two doubles and a single and after a wild pitch, the Jackets elected to enter Wesley Smith into the game for relief. Smith did a fine job of getting the Jackets out of a one-out, runners in scoring position jam. Striking out one batter and forcing a ground out with runners in scoring position.

Howard Payne would be held scoreless over the final four innings behind the impressive complete game performance from Cowboys pitcher, Garrett Johnston. Johnston pitched a total of 142 pitches and faced 41 batters on the day and seemed to get better as the game wore on. Hardin-Simmons would score two more runs, one in the sixth and one in the seventh to pull away with the 9-7 victory in nine innings.

Howard Payne wraps up their 2017 campaign with an 18-22 record overall
and will look to build on their strengths in the offseason. Stay tuned to HPUSports.com and @HPUHardball on Twitter for all your off-season news and updates. Sting 'Em!