'Roo Baseball Toppled at McMurry

ABILENE, Texas - The Austin College baseball team dropped a 14-3 decision at McMurry University on Friday evening in the series opener between the two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference squads, as the War Hawks belted five home runs on their way to handing the 'Roos the loss.

Two of those home runs, including a three-run shot by Michael Smosna, came in the bottom of the first to give the War Hawks a 4-0 lead early, and a pair of RBI doubles and a solo homer by Collin Bruning in the second pushed the McMurry lead to 8-0. The 'Roos got on the board in the third on an RBI single by Tino Ramirez, but McMurry got that run back on an error in the bottom of the third to make it a 9-1 game.

Greg Smith and RayShawn Riley had RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, to cut it to 9-3, but Smosna homered again in the sixth as the War Hawks put five more runs on the board in the inning to make it 14-3, and that's how things would end after seven innings via the run-rule. Isaac Villa and Smith each had two hits to lead the 'Roos, and Trystan Mallory took the loss, giving up eight runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings of work. Smosna paced McMurry with a 3-for-4 performance with two homers and six RBI.

The teams will wrap up their series on Sunday with a doubleheader set to begin at 1:00 p.m.