ODESSA, Texas - The University of Texas Permian Basin baseball team plated 23 runs in doubleheader action against Arkansas-Fort Smith on Friday at Roden Field. The runs were enough to split with the Lions with a score of 11-5 in a game one win and a 16-12 defeat in game two.
Austin Hall racked up seven hits on the afternoon and drove in five.
Jack Haggerty had six hits and scored four times.
Mason Hamlin,
Ethan Flodstrom,
Brent Rigtrup,
Taylor McDaniel,
Brandon Glowacki, and
Carson Johnson also had multiple hits on the day.
Jaden Wilcox allowed just three earned runs over 5.2 innings and struck out seven for the game one win.
Haggerty opened the day with a triple in the first before scoring on a passed ball. Hamlin followed with a double and came around to score on a single by Hall. He would later score on a single by Rigtrup for the 3-0 lead. In the second the Lions would get a run back to make it a two-run game.
Johnson started the second with a single and Haggerty followed with a walk. Hamlin bunted the pair into scoring position where Johnson then scored on a Flodstrom ground out. Hall brought in Haggerty on a double before scoring himself on a single by Gibran Pena to push the lead to 6-1. In the fourth, Rigtrup drove in a run on a single to go ahead 7-2.
The offense blew the game open in the fifth. Johnson drove in a run with a single to start the scoring. Later in the inning, Flodstrom singled in a run to make it 9-2. Hall capped the inning with a two-run home run for the nine-run lead. The Lions took back three runs in the sixth but it was too late as the Falcons held on for the win.
The Lions struck first with three runs in the first inning of game two. UTPB got one back in their half of the inning on a ground out by Hall to make it 3-1. The Falcons made it 3-2 in the second on an RBI single by Haggerty. Seven runs between the third and fourth innings for the Lions put them ahead 10-2 but the Falcon offense never quit.
Taylor McDaniel's solo home run trimmed the deficit to seven through four. UTPB pitching couldn't hold the Lions there as the visitors scored five in the sixth to take a 15-3 lead. Ethan Babcock-Barre ripped a two-run home run before Haggerty singled home a run to make it 15-6. McDaniel drove in another run with a double before a sac fly plated another in the seventh and the Falcons trailed 15-8.
After the Lions scored an insurance run in the eighth the bats continued to put up crooked numbers. Flodstrom got things going with a two-run homer. McDaniel drove in a run on a ground out before
Caleb Boswell's single scored another to bring UTPB within four. That's as close as they'd get as the Lions shut the door in the ninth for the win.
The Falcons start the final series of the year next Friday at Oklahoma Christian.
