By Dalton Chapman, Staff Reporter
The Hardin-Simmons University Cowboy baseball team opened the 2020 season in Airhog Stadium in Grand Prairie on Feb. 6 and completed the tournament on Feb 10. The Cowboys played three games over the weekend, facing off against three different opponents. The Cowboys start the season 0-3, but are optimistic going into the rest of the season.
Steve Coleman, head baseball coach, shared how the team’s first tournament of the season went.“We faced very good arms over the weekend, and it showed. We only had one extra base hit on the weekend and hit .208 in the three games we played. We did hit .333 with runners in scoring position.We had a really good starting performance in game one by John Clift and had some good relief appearances by Taylor McMackin and JP Poe,” Coleman said.
Coleman stated that a season cannot be measured just by a couple of games. “Baseball is a game that has to be measured over the long haul and not just the short run, so we will continue to work on the elements that will win baseball games, which is good pitching, good defense and timely offensive production,” Coleman said.
Coleman talked about the skill of their opponents and talked about the opening game against George Fox University. “We played three games to open the season at Airhog Stadium in Grand Prairie. We played three really good teams. We opened with George Fox University out of Newberg, Ore. We lost five to one. John Clift started for us and had a no-hitter into the sixth inning. We were tied one to one into the ninth [inning] and then we gave up four runs in the ninth [inning] and lost the opener,” Coleman said.
Coleman talked about the outcome of game two versus Methodist University. “Game two we played Methodist University out of Fayetteville, N.C. We did not play well at all in this game and lost 14-3. Our pitching staff walked seven and had three hit batters for 10 free runners. We also committed six errors that let to eight unearned runs,” Coleman said.
According to Coleman, game three showed promising improvement for the team. “Game three we played Hendrix College out of Conway, Ark. and lost seven to five. We were down seven to zero after four innings and rallied back with two runs in the sixth [inning], two runs in the seventh [inning] and one run in the eighth [inning]. Had two runners on and the potential winning run at the plate and flew out to left to end the game,” Coleman said.
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