Box Score
Box Score

Andy Lewton hurled a complete game for the Tigers in a nine-inning contest Sunday (Apr. 1) at Emporia State in Emporia, Kan. The Tigers won 5-2 to avoid being swept in the four-game series against the No. 28 ranked Hornets. Fort Hays State moved to 11-15 overall and 9-12 in the MIAA with the win.

Lewton allowed his only two runs of the game in the second inning, then settled in to throw seven shutout innings to follow. He allowed four of the 10 hits he scattered in the second inning.

Fort Hays State trailed by those two runs until a clutch three-run home run by Nash Smith with two outs in the fifth vaulted FHSU into the lead 3-2.

The Tigers rallied on two outs once again in the seventh as Sheldon Howell laced a two-RBI triple down the left field line to extend the lead to 5-2.

Lewton was perfect in five of the nine innings he pitched, retiring the side in order in the first, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth. He faced the minimum amount of batters in the sixth when a double play erased a leadoff single. Lewton recorded his only strikeout of the game for the second out in the ninth inning. He worked around a pair of singles in the ninth, getting the final out on a groundball. A big key to Lewton's success was not allowing any walks.

Fort Hays State returns home for a four-game conference series with Pittsburg State next weekend. The series will be two doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, April 6-7.