Box Score Georgetown, Texas - The Yellow Jacket Baseball Club took a non-conference match up, 9-8, against the Southwestern Pirates in Georgetown on Tuesday night.
The Jackets found themselves down 2-0 after the 3rd inning, but a four run 5th put them on top. Cade Varrichio singled to left to bring home Keldon Crawford. RJ Roberts then singled to right to score Noah Payne. Jacob Salazar also added a single to score Roberts putting HPU up 5-2.
HPU added to the lead in the 6th thank to doubles from Ty McCain and RJ Roberts that plated three Jackets.
Southwestern put up one run in the 6th, and then an RJ Roberts bomb gave the Jackets a 9-3 lead.
HPU would need every single one of those insurance runs as the Pirates scored five runs in the 8th. Xavier Haines then shut the door in the 9th to take the game 9-8.
RJ Roberts led the Jackets at the plate going 4-4 with a double, a homerun, a walk and 3 RBIs. Noah Payne also added three walks of his own.
A multitude of Jackets saw action on the mound as Howard Payne used eight different pitchers in this contest. Seth Owen got the start, his first time on the mound for the Jackets since Feb. 16th. He tossed 2 innings giving up 3 hits and 1 run, while striking out 3. Kyle Purdes got the win tossing 2 innings while only giving up 1 hit. Xavier Haines also grabbed his first save of the season with a scoreless 9th where he struck out 1.
Howard Payne improves to 20-10, and stays at 13-2 in ASC play. They will be off this weekend, but will be preparing for a conference series against LeTourneau set for Friday, April 12th in Longview. That game will begin at 7:00 pm.
