The Omnibus

Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Kelly Flowers Freshman Colin Graham picked up his third win of the year Saturday against Truman State by throwing six innings and only giving up one run. The win gave SBU a series split with the Bulldogs.

The Southwest Baptist baseball team returned home this past weekend to take on the Truman State Bulldogs in a four game set. Coming into the series, Truman State had the worst record in the MIAA, and it looked as though the Bearcats would have an opportunity to make a jump in the standings if they took care of business against Truman State.
The series started on the right foot for SBU as senior pitcher James Ledford completely shut down the Bulldogs on the way to a 7-1 Bearcat win. Ledford threw a complete game (seven innings) while giving up no earned runs and striking out five to pick up the victory for the Bearcats.
"He really dominated Truman," said Head Coach Sam Berg. "They really didn't have much of a chance. The only run he gave up was without a hit. He just had really good stuff working."
After Ledford's dominating performance, the Bearcats looked to pick up the second half of the doubleheader on Friday. However, Truman State had other ideas as they ran up seven runs before SBU was able to get a run across the plate. The Bulldogs pounded out 18 hits and took the second game by the score of 10-1.
With split of the doubleheader from Friday under their belt, the Bearcats took to the field for another twin-bill Saturday afternoon hoping for a series win. Again, Truman State came out of the gates on fire and put five quick runs in the first two innings to hold a 5-0 lead.
"We've been giving up a big inning every now and then," said Berg. "In this series we gave up four in one inning before [junior] Ray [Kelly] settled in."
The Bearcats were unable to rebound from the early deficit and fell 6-3.
After dropping two straight, SBU needed a victory in the final game to escape without losing the series.
In the final game, the Bearcats received contributions from some unlikely sources. Freshman Colin Graham, whose earned run average had been close to nine, took the hill for SBU and delivered six strong innings yielding only one earned run. On the offensive side of things, the Bearcats exploded to put up 13 runs and 17 hits. Of the 17 SBU hits, five came from the Bearcats' top two pitchers, Ledford and junior Bobby McMillin who were forced into playing the outfield due to injuries and other unforeseen circumstances.
Graham earned the win, moving him to 3-6 on the season and giving SBU a series split with Truman State.
With a rough start to the conference season, Berg said he is looking for focus from his youthful team.
"We haven't been as good as we had hoped so far, but we have a real young team combined with some injuries that have left us a little short and made things difficult to be consistent, but the effort has been great. We just need to take it a game at a time. Focus on the little things. Every pitch, every at bat."
The Bearcats will need that added focus as the nationally-ranked Mules of Central Missouri come to town this weekend for a Friday-Saturday series. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. Friday.

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