San Antonio, Texas - The Howard Payne Baseball Club dropped a non-conference match up 15-10 with the Knights of New Jersey University in San Antonio on Monday afternoon.
The Howard Payne offense came alive scoring 10 runs, but two Knight home runs led to a fall in a tough fought non-conference battle.
NJCU struck first going up 4-0 in the 1st on a three-run home run. Howard Payne struck back with a three-run triple from Derek Gifford that plated RJ Roberts, Jonathan McKay, and Nolyn Box. Gifford scored on an RBI double by Seth Stephens that tied the game at 4-4.
The Jackets took a 5-4 lead in the 2nd on a SAC fly by McKay that brought home Cade Varrichio. The Knights then scored two in the 3rd on another home run to go up 6-5 and then added another run in the 4th for a 7-5 lead.
HPU got within one run at 7-6 on an RBI single from Wylan Kolts that brought home Seth Stephens. NJCU added three runs in the 6th inning to go up 10-6, but HPU added two in the 6th, one on an RBI single from Seth Stephens, to make it 10-8. The Knights then busted the game open scoring three in the 7th and two in the 9th to take a 15-8 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th.
The Jackets were able to add a few more in the 9th thanks to an RBI single by RJ Roberts that plated Noah Coronado and one more on a Stephen Prewitt triple to right center to score Johnny Cravey. The game would end there at 15-10.
Derek Gifford and Seth Stephens led the offense with three hits and three RBIs apiece. A swarm of Jackets saw time on the mound including Ethan Cerna who started this contest and lasted 3 innings, Koby Hasty added 2.1, Seth Brody with 1, Landin Blass with 2/3 of an inning, and Kory Owen added one at the end.
The Jackets drop to 7-11, 4-5 in ASC play, and will get ready to defend the Don tomorrow versus the Blackburn College Beavers of Carlinville, Illinois. The first pitch will be at 1:00 pm and you can find links to live stats and video at HPUSports.com.
