SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College baseball team fell in both halves of its doubleheader against Schreiner University on Saturday, dropping a 15-4 game one decision before being topped 5-2 in 11 innings in game two. Austin College is now 5-16 overall on the year.
Schreiner jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning and tacked on another three in the second to go on top 6-0 before Austin College got on the board with a pair of runs in the third. Sergio De Paoli scored on a balk to get the first run for the 'Roos, and Zack Mahoney brought home Nick Flynn to make it 6-2. That remained the score until the fifth, when the Mountaineers pushed two more runs to make it an 8-2 game, and the margin grew to 11-2 in the sixth.
Austin College got an RBI single by Jake Webster and De Paoli drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 11-4, but that's as close as things would get as Schreiner plated four in the seventh to make it a 15-4 final.
Ryan Culp took the loss for Austin College after surrendering six runs - five earned - on seven hits in 2.0 innings of work, and five different players had one hit each for the 'Roos. Webster and De Paoli each went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Game two saw the 'Roos and Mountaineers engaged in a pitching duel between Jake Thomas and Schreiner's Devin Hooper, with the game scoreless through four innings. Schreiner plated a run in the fifth to go on top 1-0, and the Mountaineers added another in the sixth to go on top by a 2-0 scored. Austin College got one run back in the bottom half of the inning when Justin Alphonse scored on a wild pitch, and the 'Roos squared things up in the seventh when Logan Ballard was hit by a pitch with the bases full, plating De Paoli.
Neither team was able to score in the final two innings, sending the game to extras, and the game remained 2-2 heading into the 11th. That's when Schreiner took the lead for good, pushing three runs across to take a 5-2 edge and holding on in the bottom of the 11th.
Thomas took the loss for Austin College, giving up five runs on 10 hits in 10.0 innings of work. His 10.0 innings pitched are tied for the fifth most in a single game in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference history. He also struck out eight batters with just one walk issued. Mahoney went 3-for-5 and had a stolen base and Webster was 3-for-4 to lead Austin College offensively.
The 'Roos and Mountaineers will close out their weekend series on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon at Baker Field.