April 10th, 2009
(Photo of Jeremy Macklin by Ron Macklin)
SEGUIN, Texas – The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs go into the final weekend of the regular season with a one-game lead in the American Southwest Conference West Division thanks to a three-game series sweep of Schreiner University.
The Bulldogs collected 13-6 and 10-0 wins Friday in a doubleheader at TLU’s Katt-Isbel Field. TLU took a 19-8 home victory over Schreiner on Thursday.
TLU moved its overall record to 26-11 and its American Southwest Conference West Division mark to 14-4. Schreiner fell to 14-19 overall and to 7-11 in the ASC West.
In the first game Friday, TLU followed Thursday’s pattern and trailed early. This time, Schreiner led 3-0 after the first half inning before TLU scored two in the first, four in the second and two more in the third to take an 8-4 lead.
Jeremy Macklin (Austin/Bowie/Huston-Tillotson) and Drew Farr (Taylor/Taylor) hit back-to-back home runs for TLU in the four-run second. Macklin belted a three-run shot, his 11th of the season. Farr followed with a solo blast, his 10th of the year. Macklin was 3-for-5 with two runs and five RBI. Kyle Harvey (Houston/Houston Christian) added a 3-for-3 performance with two stolen bases, four runs scored and two RBI.
Schreiner cut the opening-game lead to 8-6 in the sixth, but the Bulldogs put the game out of reach with a five-run bottom of the sixth. Macklin and Farr each delivered RBI singles in the frame, and Cody Miller (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) hammered a three-run home run to right field to account for the final three runs.
Jeremiah Steinert (Sugar Land/Dulles) started for TLU on the mound and went 5-1/3 innings. He struck out four, walked two, and allowed six runs (four earned). Tom Hembree (Burnet/Burnet) pitched the final 1-2/3 to notch his third save of the season. Hembree did not allow a hit and struck out one.
In game two, Macklin made his second start of the season and moved to 4-1 overall with seven innings of two-hit, shutout baseball. Macklin struck out five and walked three. Casey Zamora (McQueeney/Seguin/Odessa JC) tossed the final two innings and did not allow a hit. He struck out two.
The Bulldogs built a 2-0 lead with runs in the first and the fifth before putting six runs on the board in the sixth. Clay Childress (Houston/Jersey Village/Eastfield JC), Ryan Nokelby (Santa Fe, Texas/Santa Fe) and Chris Siniff (San Antonio/Judson) each delivered RBI singles in the inning. TLU also took advantage of two Schreiner fielding errors to score two more runs.
Andrew Femath (El Paso/Montwood/Howard JC) singled home a run in the seventh. Femath had three hits, two RBI and a run scored. Chris Green (Austin/Bowie/Concordia Texas) scored three times.
TLU and Hardin-Simmons each won three times in conference this week to set up a three-game series for the ASC West Division title. The Bulldogs take a one-game lead over Hardin-Simmons into the series. The winner of the series wins the West. The loser of the series could fall to the No. 3 spot in the division (depending on the number of losses in the series.)
Game one of the TLU-HSU series in Abilene will take place at 7 p.m. Friday. Games two and three of the series are part of Saturday’s 1 p.m. doubleheader, also at HSU in Abilene.
