BROWNWOOD, Texas - Baseball opened a three-game road series with a 9-0 victory over Howard Payne.
"It's been a long three weeks," said head coach
Bobby Mesker. "It was going to take great team at bats filled with two-strike grinds, two-out hits, two-out RBI, and pressure bunts if needed. Plus a quality start. That's exactly what we got today."
Jared Lorenz made it 1-0 in the first, plating
Orlando Moreno on an RBI groundout to second.
Moreno extended the lead in the second, bringing around
Jorge Marquez on a single to right for a 2-0 lead.
Peyten Kennard scored on a wild pitch in the fourth before Moreno singled around
Estevan Ortiz on a bunt. Marquez also came around on the bunt for a 5-0 advantage. Lorenz later plated Moreno on a sacrifice fly for a 6-0 lead going bottom four.
Sam Russell was electric on the bump, striking out 10 and walking one in nine innings of work. He'd need nothing more from the offense but got two more in the seventh on RBI singles from Moreno an
Tristan Karels. Marquez added one more in the top of the eighth with an RBI single for a 9-0 lead that soon went final.
Moreno, Marquez and
Carsen Thor led the game with three hits each. Moreno scored a game-best three runs and also led the day with three RBI.
Kennard and Marquez each scored two runs.
The win ends a nine-game losing streak, putting the Lobos at 11-14 on the season and 8-11 in conference. Howard Payne drops to 8-20 and 4-15.
Sully concludes the series against HPU with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. in Brownwood.