Feb. 12, 2008

Box Score

Opening day turned out poorly for the SU baseball team as the Pirates lost to the Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets by a score of 4-3 on Tuesday (Feb. 12) afternoon in Brownwood, TX.

Southwestern struck first as the Bucs scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Michael Murphy (Houston, TX/Austin HS) was hit by a pitch with two outs, followed by an RBI double by Blake Williams (Lufkin, TX/Lufkin HS) and then an RBI single from John Wooten (Columbus, TX/Columbus HS). In the bottom half of the inning, SU allowed a pair of singles and then a sacrifice fly to start the inning and pull within one.

In the Pirate second, SU got another run as Eric Gonzales (Austin, TX/Bowie HS) doubled and then advanced two bases on passed balls to extend the lead to 3-1. HPU then chased Pirate starter Wes Willis (Austin, TX/Austin HS) after just 1.1 innings, touching him up for three runs on five hits in the second inning. The Yellow Jackets managed to make the one-run lead stick as the Pirates did not advance a runner past second during the final seven innings.

Gonzales was the only Southwestern hitter with multiple hits in the game, connecting on a single and double in four at-bats. He scored one run for the Bucs. Williams had a double, scoring one run and driving in one while Wooten collected the only other RBI for SU.

Willis gave up four earned runs on eight hits in 1.1 innings on the hill, taking the loss and falling to 0-1 for the year. The junior struck out two while walking one. First-year Chris Churchwell (Kingwood, TX/Kingwood HS) came on in relief and threw 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball. The southpaw recorded five strikeouts while walking two and allowing three base hits.

SU begins its season with a loss for the third-straight year after a string of 10 season-opening wins.

The Pirates play their first game at home on Wednesday (Feb. 13) at 2:00 pm with a single game against the University of Texas at Dallas Comets.