ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Harris-Stowe State University baseball team was back in action this afternoon when they played host to the Saint Xavier (Ill.) University Cougars. The Hornets were defeated by the Cougars by a final score of 9-4 to fall to 0-1 on the season. With the win, the Cougars improve to 4-0 on the year.
The Hornets got off to a good start in this one as they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Cougars bounced back quickly and were able to score four runs in the top of the second and five runs in the top of the fourth to take a 9-1 lead in the game. The Hornets struggled to get anything gong offensively over the next few inning but played good defensively to keep the Cougars off the board. Harris-Stowe's bats got going in the bottom of the eighth as they were able to score three runs to cut the score to 9-4. However, that was as close as they would get as the Cougars picked up the final outs of the game to hand the Hornets their first loss of the season.
Dajuan Griffin (0-1) was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed four hits and four earned runs while striking out four in 3.0 innings on the mound.
Preston Burnett (0-0),
Alex Williams (0-0), and
Tommy Benner (0-0) all pitched in relief and combined to allow five hits and three earned runs while striking out seven in the final 6.0 innings of the game.
Jackson Bartholomew led the way offensively for the Hornets as he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. In addition,
Davie Pound went 1-for-3 with an RBI and
Austin Palicios went 1-for-1 with two RBI's to round out the top performers for the Hornets.
The Hornets will return to the diamond tomorrow, February 23
rd when they play host to the William Penn (Iowa) University Statesmen in a nonconference matchup. The game is set to start at 1 p.m. at CarShield Field. No spectators will be allowed to attend but live stats and video will be provided.
