ALPINE, Texas – Behind six runs in the first three innings and a career-high 11 strikeouts from Matthew Williams, the Concordia Texas baseball team picked up a 9-7 win over Sul Ross State in the opening game of the series Friday at Kokernot Field.

Casen Novak, Carson Cox and Reed Carlton all had multi-hit games in the win as CTX moved to 20-8, 6-4 in the American Southwest Conference.

The Tornados started the contest with a bang, scoring four runs in the top half of the first inning highlighted by an RBI single from Bret Leiferman, an RBI double off the bat of Carlton and an RBI groundout by Owen Hill.

Leading 4-0 after the first, CTX tacked on single runs in the second and third innings thanks to a pair of miscues by the Lobo defense to make the score 6-0 heading into the fourth.

After Sul Ross fought back with three runs in the bottom half of the fourth, the Tornados responded with a pair of runs in the fifth. Jacob Gywnne started the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly to bring home Marcus Thach before Cox delivered an RBI single up the middle to drive in Novak.

The Lobos did not go away, however, cutting the deficit to 8-7 in the seventh after a three-run homer and an RBI double.

Carlton and Hill teamed up to give the Tornados an insurance run in the top half of the eighth. Carlton, a senior out of Austin, Texas, led off the inning with a triple and came home on an RBI groundout from Hill.

Michael Smith, who came on in relief on the hill in the seventh, closed the door in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts in seal the win. Smith, a sophomore from Friendswood, Texas, earned the save after tossing 2.2 innings while giving up just one hit and no runs.

Williams picked up the win on the mound for CTX after throwing 6.0 innings and giving up just three earned runs. The 2018 First Team All-ASC selection allowed eight hits to move to 7-1 on the year.

The series concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12:00 p.m.