BROWNWOOD, Texas - The Howard Payne University baseball team posted 12-4 and 19-4 victories over the University of the Ozarks Friday afternoon at Don Shepard Park.

Howard Payne outscored Ozarks 31-8 and outhit the Eagles 23-18 in the double-header conference wins. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of nine Eagles errors on the day.

Game One
HPU starter Kyle Purdes posted a career high 10 strikeouts allowing four runs on seven hits and walking one in the complete game victory.

The Jackets jumped on the Eagles early scoring five runs in the bottom of the first. Joey Villarreal singled to score William Burford then later Stephen Prewitt hit a grand slam to clear the bases giving HPU the 5-0 advantage.

HPU had another big inning in the sixth with Rylee McGee homering to left center then Samuel Lampson hit an inside the park homerun with two on base.

William Burford, Joey Villarreal, Kelby Coburn, and Samuel Lampson each recorded two hits for HPU

Game Two
It was all Yellow Jackets in game two with HPU only out hitting Ozarks 12-11 but taking advantage of four errors and 12 walked batters.

After giving up two runs in the first inning, HPU starter Gary Blair settled and went on to strikeout five while allowing three runs on seven hits. In the win, Blair would only walk one in 5.2 innings of work.

HPU had three big innings scoring four runs in the second, seven in the third, and six in the seventh.

William Burford, Noah Coronado, Derek Gifford, and Rylee McGee each recorded two hits for the Yellow Jackets.

The HPU bullpen was solid, Jasen Hollingsworth, Landon Blass, and Bryant Chambers each saw an inning of work allowing just one run on four hits the rest of the game.

HPU improves to 8-17 overall and 4-13 in American Southwest Conference play. Ozarks falls to 7-18 overall and 6-11 in league action. The two teams will finish out their series on Saturday with a single game starting at 12:00 noon.