Conway, Ark. - Hendrix baseball swept the University of the South with a couple of walk-offs and a blowout win over the weekend for a 3-0 start to league play in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA).
Game 1 (W, 6-5)
Hendrix plated five runs in the ninth after trailing 5-1 in a comeback win over the Tigers to produce early fireworks in their conference-opening series.
After Sewanee scored the game's opening run in the top of the third, the Warriors responded in the next half inning as
Shaun Pope touched home after initially reaching on an error. The Tigers retook the lead in the fourth, and added three more runs in the eighth to take a 5-1 lead. After entering in the top of the eighth,
Braxton Waller worked around a defensive error and a two-out hit in ninth to retire the side and turn it back over to the Hendrix bats and keep their comeback bid alive.
Austin Rabago led off the ninth with a single to left field and then advanced to second after
Zylan Brown was hit by a pitch. Rabago eventually scored after
Shaun Pope doubled down the left field line to cut the deficit to three with two runners in scoring position. Brown scored the Warriors' third run when
Drake Job grounded out to the second basemen, and Pope was then brought in for the fourth run on an
Ian Guthrie infield single.
Zane Nolan ran for Guthrie to represent the tying run.
Owen Shaw put runners on the corners with a single to right field, and then advanced to second on a stolen base as
Hogan Ralston struck out looking.
Alex Musel drew a pinch-hit, two-out walk to load bases to bring up
Joseph Watts with the tying run 90 feet away and the winning run in scoring position. Watts promptly ended the game with a two-RBI single to left field and complete the comeback.
Braxton Waller was the pitcher of record in Game 1 to earn his first winning decision of the season, tossing two scoreless frames while allowing just two hits.
Game 2 (W, 17-1)
If the Warriors' series-opening win was a pulsating thriller, Game 2 was anything but as the Orange and Black absolutely battered Sewanee to clinch the series on Friday evening.
Dylan Kalmus got the ball in Game 2 and was up to his usual form, allowing one run on five hits in 6.0 innings, with the lone run coming off of a solo shot. Kalmus allowed just five base runners without issuing a walk.
Hendrix was put down in order in the bottom of the first but got the offense going in the second as
Ian Guthrie led off the inning with a double to left field. Watts then brought in Guthrie with an RBI triple to right center field.
Jacob Carpentier was hit by a pitch and
Nick Echaniz walked to load the bases just in time for Rabago to smoke a double to center field to bring in Watts and Carpentier. Echaniz and Rabago were eventually brought in on a long fly ball from
Shaun Pope as the Warriors plated five runs in the second.
The Warriors added two more in the fourth inning as Pope slapped a two-out single to right field to score Rabago. Pope then touched home after scoring all the way from first after stealing second base and advancing home on a throwing error from the catcher and a failed relay from the outfield.
After the Tigers got on the board in the top of the fifth with a solo shot, the bottom half of the inning snowballed as Hendrix scored seven runs to put the game beyond reach. They would score three more in the sixth, and
Johnny Miles made his debut on the mound in the seventh in relief of Kalmus and put the Tigers down in order to seal the game.
Game 3 (W, 3-2)
Preston Tompkins got the ball in Game 3 as the Warriors looked for the series sweep and struck out eight in five innings of work. He was not in line for the win after giving up a two-run shot in the first, but held the Tigers scoreless in his final four frames.
The Warriors tied the game in the bottom of the second as
Jake Blice smoked a one-out single through the right side to score
Hogan Ralston and
Charlie Deaton. The offense cooled down for both team as the next six innings went scoreless. Deaton was thrown out at home after a first-and-third play went wrong to end the sixth inning, and Hendrix left two stranded in the seventh after
Griffin Baird led off the inning with a double to left center.
Braxton Waller entered in the eighth and gave up just one hit in two scoreless innings to set the table for another walk-off opportunity for Hendrix in the ninth. Deaton led off the inning with a double to left field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Ryan Lang. The Tigers then intentionally walked Baird and Pope to load the bases.
Owen Shaw stepped into the box with two gone and walked it off on a four-pitch walk to score
Zane Nolan, who pinch ran for Deaton, and win the game.
Waller earned his second winning decision in as many days, but
Rowan Glover was superb in relief as well, tossing two innings of one-hit scoreless ball with a pair of strikeouts.
