Southwest baseball played Mineral Area College in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday for their first home series of the season.
The Bears lost Game One to Mineral Area 14-5, won Game Two 5-1, and lost Game Three 6-4. Games One and Two on Friday were both seven-inning contests.
Game One started out as a close one for the first four innings, with Mineral Area only leading 1-0 during that time.
Rhyson Carroway started the game on the mound for the Bears and recorded five strikeouts, allowing only one run on two hits.
Mineral Area’s bats got hot in the fifth, putting up five runs followed by eight more runs in the top of the sixth. That gave them a 14-0 lead on the Bears.
The bottom of the fifth looked promising for Southwest, as it put together a string of hits and base running to put five runs on the board.
Justin Domiano and JD Hidalgo both earned one hit and two RBIs in the inning, with the last RBI coming from Luke Simmons.
Matt Newman took over on the mound to start Game Two for the Bears. In five innings, Newman produced eight strikeouts, allowing only one run and one hit.
Game Two was a defensive battle, but hits from Tristain Haynes, Robbie Hokamp, Drew Swan and JD Hidalgo would lead the Bears to their 5-1 victory.
Haynes had two RBIs while Cam Bolden, Robbie Hokamp and Drew Swan each added one RBI.
Bolden (x2), Hidalgo and Hokamp all stole bases as well.
Nik Carney finished the last two innings on the mound putting up three strikeouts of his own.
Matt Newman threw 45 strikes on 69 pitches and Nik Carney threw 28 strikes on 50 pitches.
Andrew Hoff started on the mound for the Bears in a nine-inning Game Three on Saturday.
Hoff put up five strikeouts in two innings but also let up a grand slam in the first which left Southwest in a 4-0 hole early.
Mineral Area went up 6-0 over the Bears by the top of the 4th before the Bears finally answered in the bottom of that inning with three runs of their own.
Cam Bolden, Justin Domiano and Robbie Hokamp each had two hits in the game.
Hokamp also had two RBIs with Bolden and JD Hidalgo each having one RBI. Robbie Hokamp hit a triple and a double in the contest. JD Hidalgo and Jonathan Miller both recorded a double as well.
With the bats warming up Southwest came back within two, finding themselves down 6-4 going into the 8th inning.
Southwest saw four more pitchers on the mound after Hoff. Dom Smith (4), Konnor Cazenave (1), Luke Simmons (2), and Brian Hankinson (3) combined for 10 more strikeouts, bringing the team total to 15 in Game Three.
While the defense remained strong, the offense could not catch up, and the Bears would fall to Mineral Area 6-4 in Game Three, losing the series 2-1.
“I thought we played really well other than three innings. That was possibly one of the best teams we will play all year,” head coach Jack Edmonson said. “I was proud of how we played, not proud of how we executed. I’m excited about this week and the opportunity we have to play more quality opponents.”
“Matt Newman threw a gem in Game Two Friday to give us a win. We saw a lot of really good things. Just need to clean up a few little execution things,” Edmonson said.
The Bears (3-2) play again at home on Tuesday against Florida Post Grad.
