BROWNWOOD, Texas - The Howard Payne University baseball team was able to win going away in the first game of its doubleheader vs. the University of Dallas, 13-2 on Thursday afternoon at Don Sheppard Park.

They also had a healthy 8-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning of the second contest. However, with junior infielder Tucker Cavaness standing on third, the umpires conferred and decided to call the game due to darkness with one out remaining.

Had the game been able to extend into the sixth inning, the result would have counted as an 8-6 win and a Howard Payne two-game sweep. As it stands, the Yellow Jackets still turned in their finest performances of the young season with solid team batting and pitching.

David Groves and Michael Nowak each combined to hit their first home-runs of the season and Joshua Gerig and Cliff Lunceford both tripled and Seth Owen pitched four full innings of solid baseball. Surrendering just two hits and one run while striking out two batters on the way to register his second win of the season.

The first game started fast with Howard Payne reeling off five unanswered runs in the games first three innings. Blake Null got the scoring started when his single down the left field line brought in Gerig. Jacob Rodriguez walked and then took second on a wild throw to score Jay Holland and give the Yellow Jackets a 3-0 lead.

Joshua Gerig would again step to the plate on the very next at-bat and this time he smoked a ball to right field that fell in and scored Rodriguez after a JW Ledbetter sac-fly put him at third base. The Jackets would continue to threaten the rest of the inning but were popped up to end the rally up 4-0.

JW Ledbetter would go on to bring in Jay Holland after Owens forced two groundouts and then picked off a Crusader baserunner to end the inning. After three full innings, Howard Payne led 5-0.

The University of Dallas put their first run on the board in the top of the fourth when the middle of their order was able to work a count, take a walk, and then use some aggressive baserunning maneuvers to be put in a place to score. But the Yellow Jackets responded by scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Noah Payne led off the inning with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch to put the pressure on the Crusaders pitching staff. A Blake Null double to left field scored Payne and Jacob Rodriguez's triple to the left field wall scored Holland and Bailey Smith. David Groves rounded out the scoring by singling up the middle to bring home Rodriguez and give Howard Payne a 9-1 lead.

A scoreless fifth inning from both sides was followed by a min rally from the Crusaders. They scored one run in the top of the sixth but in the true fashion of the contest, the Yellow Jackets answered back in grand fashion during the bottom of the inning. 

Hunter Bazan pinch hit for Bailey Smith and worked the count and picked up a walk to start things off. He would go on to score after his teammates loaded the bases and walked him home. Jay Holland would score after sophomore Noah Coronado lined a ball to the shortstop with the bases still loaded. Noah Payne tripled down the left-field line to score Davis Groves and Howard Payne closed out the inning with the 13-2 lead.

Shawn Brody settled in and closed out the game for the Jackets by striking out one batter, forcing one into a groundout and popping up the final out of the game. The Jackets would record the 13-2 victory in game one.

Howard Payne scored 13 runs on nine hits and held the University of Dallas to just four hits on the day. Joshua Gerig was 2-4 with one run scored, an RBI, stolen base and a double. Jacob Rodriguez scored three runs and batted another run in while going 1-1 with three walks.

Blake Null was 2-4 with two RBI's and a double, and Noah Payne went 2-4 with one run scored, an RBI and a triple. David Groves was 1-2 with two runs scored, two RBI's and two walks in the victory.

Game two started with the University of Dallas intent on setting the tone early. They stormed out and took a 2-0 lead before Howard Payne responded with a six-run bottom of the inning. Sophomore Genaro Garza was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Gerig scored as a result to start the rally. 

Cliff Lunceford's single up the middle score Hunter Bazan and Michael Nowak cleared the bases with three RBI shot over the left field wall. The rally ended with the Yellow Jackets holding the 6-2 lead into the top of the third inning.

The Crusaders played aggressively and used some smart baserunning to get two runs across the board in the third. Lunceford would again come up huge offensively when he tripled in the bottom of the inning to score Groves and help keep Dallas off the heels of Howard Payne. After three, the Jackets led 7-4.

Two more runs from the University of Dallas meant that they were not yet conceding the contest or the series. However, David Groves' homer cleared the bases in the fourth and put the contest in Howard Payne's control for the rest of the game.  They went up 10-6 and then held on to pick up the 10-8 score before having the game called due to darkness.

Howard Payne will next be in action vs. the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on February 22nd. The first day will be one full nine inning game and the following day will be two seven inning games. Find links to live stats and video at HPUSports.com