CONWAY, Ark. - Hendrix took the first two games of their season-opening weekend versus Westminster to claim their first series of the season.
It was all fireworks in the season-opener as the Warriors engineered a three-run 8th-inning to score the tying and go-ahead runs to down the Blue Jays 16-15. Hendrix secured the series the following day with a 12-2 run-rule victory, but Westminster fought off the series sweep with a pitching gem on Sunday en route to a 5-1 win.
Game 1 (W, 16-15)
Dylan Kalmus got the ball in the season-opener and did not allow an earned run in 3.0 innings while scattering 8 hits.
Caden Goad (W, 1-0) was the pitcher of record, earning the win-in-relief and setting up
Braxton Waller for the save opportunity. Of the 15 runs that the pitching staff allowed on Friday, only 6 of those runs were earned. However, defensive errors plagued not just Westminster but Hendrix as well, with 7 errors committed between the two sides. The Warriors shelled Westminster's starting pitcher with 6 runs on 5 hits and ran him off after just 0.2 innings, and found themselves leading 9-3 after the third inning. A four-spot from the Blue Jays in the next half inning got the visitors back in the game, and they took the lead in the 5th with a six-spot to go up 13-9. A four-spot in the 6th-inning brought Hendrix within two runs, and going into the 8th-inning trailing 15-13,
Austin Rabago brought in
Mike Massa and
Zane Nolan with a one-out triple to score the tying runs. After a Westminster pitching change,
Ryne Dodson scored Rabago with a single for the go-ahead run. Waller entered in the 9th-inning with a one-run lead and a save on the line and put the Blue Jays down in order to earn the save and secure the victory.
Rabago led the Warriors with a 3-for-5 day at the plate with 5 runs batted-in. Dodson was stellar as well in his collegiate debut, going 3-for-6 with 2 RBIs.
Game 2 (W, 12-2)
Hendrix shut down the Blue Jays hitting on Saturday while maintaining their offensive form in a 12-2, 7-inning win. After Westminster plated a run in the first inning, the Warriors tied the game with a
Shaun Pope lead-off home run in the bottom half of the inning and scored in every inning afterwards, including four runs in the second inning to put some space between them and the visitors.
Rowan Glover allowed just one earned run in 4.0 innings and turned the game over to
Aiden Leggett in the fifth inning, who promptly gave Hendrix 3.0 shutout innings of one-hit ball out of the pen to earn the winning decision, seeing just one batter above the minimum in those three innings.
Game 3 (L, 5-1)
The Warriors were unable to earn a series sweep, as the offense came undone by stellar Westminster pitching in the Sunday finale. The Blue Jays' Jack Page twirled 6.0 shutout innings without allowing a hit while striking out 11 hitters. Hendrix did not get a runner on the basepath until the fourth inning when
Shaun Pope worked a one-out walk. The lone run of the ball game for Hendrix came in the ninth when
Aaron Gonzales brought in Rabago on a fielder's choice.
Hendrix's pitching staff allowed just five runs on eight hits, and the defense did not commit an error across the nine innings.
The Warriors (2-1) will now prepare for league play as they head to Huntsville, Texas this weekend to face the University of St. Thomas on Thursday and Friday at Sam Houston State University.
