GEORGETOWN, Texas — Southwestern baseball scored in each of the first five innings to breeze to a 13-7 victory over Austin College, sweeping the three-game series against the Kangaroos.
The Pirates jumped on Austin College starting pitcher Jake Thomas early, scoring three runs on four hits in the first inning. Ted Lobkowicz started with a leadoff double, later scoring on Jake Harris' RBI-single up the middle. Bryce Debbs followed with a single through the right side to put runners at the corners, setting up Lance Kruse's two-RBI double.
Ryan Baranowski was hit by a pitch to open the second inning, marking the first of three at-bats in which he took one for the team, clashing his Pirates' gold jersey with spots of black and blue baseball-sized bruises. He advanced to second base on a passed ball and then scored on a Jacob Tanner RBI-single to right field. After a Lokbowicz walk, Maxwell Mims hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Tanner.
The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, opening with a Daniel Montgomery Jr. walk, followed by a Landon Durdin strikeout, then Baranowski and Tanner getting drilled by pitches. Lobkowicz grounded out to second, scoring Montgomery to give Southwestern a 6-0 lead.
On defense, Southwestern starting pitcher Trey Dees (1-1) surrendered a leadoff single to Sergio De Paoli but otherwise kept a clean sheet through the first three innings. Following De Paoli's single and a steal, Dees struck out Nick Flynn, and Justin Alphonse followed by lining out to Tanner at shortstop, who flipped it to second for an inning-ending double play.
The Pirate defense faced only nine batters through three consecutive three-up, three-down innings. Austin College finally broke through in the fourth inning, loading the bases with one out off a walk, single, and error. Logan Ballard put the Kangaroos on the board with an RBI single to right field, and Jake Webster reached on an error but drove in Zack Mahoney on the play for the RBI to cut the deficit to 6-2.
Debbs answered with a two-run blast in the bottom of the inning, scoring Harris, who led off with a walk. After a Montgomery single, hit batter, and an error loaded the bases, Lobkowicz was hit by a pitch to bring in another run, ending Thomas' afternoon with Kurtis Gustafson taking over to get out of the inning.
Austin College struck again in the fifth, scoring on a fielder's choice hit by Mahoney with bases loaded to score Zack Czarnecky. The Pirates responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a passed ball, an error, and a Baranowski RBI-single to center field.
Ruben Garcia replaced Dees on the mound to start the sixth, giving up a leadoff single to Webster, later advancing him to third on a wild pitch, then giving up the run on a Christian Kyser groundout to second.
Jackson Chaviers took the mound to start the sixth inning for Austin College and was the Kangaroos' most effective pitcher, finishing the final three innings with five strikeouts while surrendering just three hits and one run.
With a 12-4 lead, Southwestern fielded an almost entirely new lineup in the seventh inning, allowing a few players to get some innings in. Blake Grider took the mound to start the inning and surrendered two runs before getting out of the inning.
Freshman Kyle Porter hit his first collegiate home run in the bottom of the eighth, and Trey Schwarz started the ninth on the mound to close the Kangaroos down with a one-run inning to end the game.
Southwestern improves to 18-15 with the win, including a 13-5 conference record. The Pirates will travel to play Concordia in a doubleheader on Tuesday, then host Trinity University next weekend for a three-game series to end the regular season.