Feb. 11, 2007
Box Score
The SU baseball team blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning for the second straight day as the Schreiner University Mountaineers defeated the Pirates 6-5 on Sunday (Feb. 11) afternoon in Georgetown, TX.
Southwestern's offense got rolling in the bottom of the first inning when junior Richard Falcone (Houston, TX/Westside HS) singled through the left side and sophomore Michael Murphy (Houston, TX/Austin HS) slammed his first home run of the season over the left field wall to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. The Pirates added to their lead in the following inning when first-year Landon Durham (Pearland, TX/Pearland HS) singled down the right field to score Brent McMullen (Irving, TX/Nimitz HS) from second base.
In the top of the third, Schreiner answered with a bases loaded sacrifice fly from Thomas Cable and another run off a Southwestern error to bring the score to 3-2. The Mountaineers then got to Pirate reliever Brad Mathis (Huntsville, TX/Huntsville HS) in the eighth for a pair of earned runs and a one-run lead.
SU came right back in the bottom of the inning with a Falcone single followed by a Murphy walk. With one out and men on first and third, senior Brad Culling (Albuquerque, NM/St. Pius HS) hit a slow roller to short which the shortstop mishandled, allowing a run to score and runners to reach first and second. The next hitter, Taylor Spalla (Boerne, TX/Boerne HS) hit a ground ball to shortstop that should have been a double play, but the Schreiner shortstop threw the ball away after stepping on second, allowing Murphy to score from second and give SU a 5-4 lead.
In the top of the ninth, with runners on first and second and one out, Schreiner's Johnny Huizar drove a double to right-center field, driving in one run to tie the game at five each. The following hitter, J.D. Escobar, lined a single off Southwestern pitcher Eric Gonzales' (Austin, TX/Bowie HS) foot, scoring a runner from third and making the score 6-5. In the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates got a runner on base thanks to an error but Mountaineer pitcher Kevin Jones struck out the side to preserve the win.
Murphy's home run was his only hit of the game in three at-bats. He collected two runs batted in for the game as well as two runs score. Culling continues to swing a hot bat, going 2-4 with one RBI. Falcone recorded a multi-hit game, going 2-5 with two runs scored.
Junior Scott Rogers (Flower Mound, TX/Marcus HS) started on the mound for the Pirates, lasting five and two-thirds innings and giving up two unearned runs. The right-hander allowed six hits and two walks while striking out five. Gonzales' record falls to 0-1 on the season after allowing two earned runs on four hits in one-third of an inning.
Southwestern is now 0-2 on the season while Schreiner upped its record to 5-1.
The Pirates return to action on Tuesday (Feb. 13) when they travel to Belton, TX to face off against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders at 2:00 p.m.
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