ROME, Ga. - The Shorter baseball team split Saturday's double header against 18th ranked Delta State, winning the opening game, 5-3, before falling in game two, 10-6.
The Hawks are now 13-23 overall and 6-17 in the Gulf South Conference, while Delta State is 25-11 and 17-6 in the GSC.
"Game one was a good win," head coach Wes Timmons said. "The guys fought early to put runs on the board."
In game one, Shorter scored first, plating one run in the bottom of the second inning. Dustin Lawson reached on a wild pitch and advanced to third when Jerry Liang singled to right field. Lawson scored when DSU's Justin Vincent threw his second wild pitch of the inning.
The Statesmen tied the contest in the top of the fifth thanks to a pair of singles, but the Hawks answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-1 lead. With one out, Brian Cabrera walked and Patrick Sanderson singled. Raul Cortes batted in both runners with a two-RBI double to left-center field. Cortes eventually scored on a wild pitch, increasing SU's lead to three runs.
The Statesmen pulled within two runs in the top of the seventh when they managed back-to-back doubles, but Patrick Sanderson pushed the lead back to three for the Hawks with a solo homerun.
Neither team scored in the eighth, but Delta State once again pulled within two, 5-3, in the top of the ninth. The Statesmen got no closer as Tyler Cates got out of a bases loaded jam, striking out the final batter to preserve the win for Shorter and earn his first career save.
Jacob Ramos earned the win for the Hawks, pitching 6.2 innings. Ramos gave up two earned runs on five hits. Justin Vincent received the loss for Delta State, giving up three earned runs over 4.2 innings.
Things did not go Shorter's way in game two, as the visitors from Delta State left the Robert H. Ledbetter Baseball Complex with a 10-6 victory.
The Statesmen scored six runs in the first two innings to take a 6-0 lead, but the Hawks cut their lead in half by scoring three runs in the bottom of the second. Lawson singled and Laing doubled down the right field line, giving SU runners on the corners. Steven Maier reached via a base on balls, loading the bases for Sanderson. Sanderson's RBI walk gave the Hawks their first run of game two, before both Liang and Lawson scored on a Delta State throwing error.
The Hawks cut the Statesmen lead to 6-4 when Lawson homered, but Delta State scored a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to take an 8-4 lead.
Shorter scored a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Lawson singled and stole second before scoring on Greg Gladden's base hit to right field.
Although the Hawks only trailed by three, 8-5, the Statesmen scored twice in the top of the sixth. SU managed one final run in the bottom of the seventh when Gladden's sacrifice fly scored Mason Long, but it was not enough as the Hawks fell, 10-6.
Shorter's' Jacob Farmer took the loss in game two. He threw 1.1 innings and surrendered five earned runs. DSU's Tre Hobbs earned the win, pitching a complete game.
The two teams play the rubber match tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 PM EST from Rome, Georgia.
