ABILENE, Texas -- #RV Texas Lutheran Baseball hammered Hardin-Simmons in the first two games of a four-game series in Abilene on Friday. The Bulldogs combined for 29 runs over the course of 16 innings, beating the Cowboys 13-5 in five innings in game one before following that with a 16-9 victory in game two.
The Bulldogs (6-3) scored 13 runs on 12 hits, including three doubles and a triple, to rally from an early deficit to the Cowboys.
Brayden Sprencel (Robstown/Calallen) led Texas Lutheran offensively, going 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI. Adam Peavy (Houston/Memorial) also had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Garret Nedd (Sealy/Sealy) pitched a complete game, tossing all seven innings of game one to pick up his second win of the season. Nedd allowed five runs on 13 hits and a walk while striking out four batters.
A two-run second inning allowed Hardin-Simmons to take an early 2-0 lead over the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs grabbed their first lead, 3-2, with four hits in the top of the fourth. Kash Durkin (Liberty Hill/Liberty Hill) hit a one-out single that was followed by a double from Chase Bourgeois (League City/Clear Falls) to get things started and put two runners on. Brayden Sprencel doubled down the right field to tie the game at two. With two outs, Chance Greene (Round Rock/Stony Point) singled to center to drive in Sprencel and give TLU the lead.
TLU added two more runs with a two-RBI double from Caleb Small (Round Rock/Gateway College Preparatory) to take a 5-2 lead in the fifth before the Cowboys would respond with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Texas Lutheran broke the game open with eight runs in the sixth, scoring the runs on five hits. After a single and a pair of walks loaded the bases, Mason Goudeau (Liberty/Liberty) drove in the first run of the inning with an RBI single up the middle. Peacy drove in his second run of the game with an RBI fielder's choice. After reloading the bases, Chase Bourgeois hit an RBI single that was followed by a two-RBI single from Sprencel. Tyler Helpenstill (Pearland/Lutheran South) capped the scoring with an RBI triple that turned into a little league home run following an error from the Hardin-Simmons second baseman, bringing the score to 13-4.
The Cowboys brought the game to its final score by scoring a run in the ninth.
The Bulldogs pounded out a season-high 16 runs to wrap Friday's doubleheader. Texas Lutheran scored in six of the nine innings Friday night with seven of the nine Bulldogs starters having at least one hit, while six of the nine starters drove in at least one run.
Brayden Sprencel went 3-for-6 with a two-run home run and four RBI in total, while Adam Peavy and Kash Durkin both finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Peavy hit a three-run home run while Durkin finished with a double and a solo home run. TLU combined for a season-high five home runs on the night.
Nolan McInvale (Poth/Poth) got the start and tossed four shutout innings before Hardin-Simmons got to him in the fifth and seventh innings. McInvale finished with 6.2 innings pitched and nine runs allowed on 16 hits and four walks. He only struck out one Cowboy on the night to pick up his second win of the season.
Parker Schutte (Arlington/Lamar) pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, only allowing a hit and a walk.
Texas Lutheran jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over HSU with a big first inning. The Bulldogs used four hits and a walk to do damage. Durkin hit a two-RBI double, Sprencel hit an RBI single, and Helpenstill hit an RBI triple.
An unearned run in the third and a one-out solo home run from Mason Goudeau in the fourth extended the lead to 6-0.
TLU more than doubled their lead with an eight run fifth inning that saw Texas Lutheran hit four home runs in a single inning. Durkin led the inning off with a home run, after a single, Sprencel would hit the second homer of the inning to make the game 9-0. A double set the stage for a two-run home run from Chance Greene and Adam Peavy would end the barrage of homers with a three-run homer of his own as the Bulldogs ended the inning with a 14-0 lead and a grand slam shy of the home run cycle.
The Cowboys came back and scored a run in the bottom of the fifth and eight runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to trim the Bulldogs lead to 14-9.
Texas Lutheran answered with runs in the eighth and ninth via RBI singles from Goudeau and Sprencel to bring the game to its final score.
Texas Lutheran continues its four-game series with Hardin-Simmons on Saturday with another 7/9 doubleheader to wrap the series. First pitch is scheduled for 12 PM and 2:30 PM. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.
For more information on Texas Lutheran baseball and all TLU athletics, you can find updates on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics and @TLU_Baseball on X (Twitter), @tlubulldogs on Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok).
