Baseball: Porter powers Hawks past Jewell

Senior first baseman Ryan Porter combined for seven hits and six RBIs to lead Rockhurst to pair of wins at William Jewell Wednesday in Liberty, Mo.

Porter went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in an 8-4 win in the first game. He posted four hits, including a pair of home runs, to power the Hawks to a 7-1 victory in the nightcap. Porter increased his batting average to .360 and leads the team with six home runs and 37 RBIs.

Scott Bradbury’s two-run single led Rockhurst to a six-run third inning in the opener. Derrick Jones also drove in two runs while collecting three hits. Josh Samuelson added three hits and an RBI single. Starter pitching Josh Tols (5-2) struck out six in six innings.

In the second game, Porter hit a solo homer to dead center in the fifth and added a two-run blast to center in the seventh. He also had an RBI double in the third. Patrick Chandler and Brandon Tangney both had two hits. Zach Loeffelholz evened his record to 2-2 with six-plus innings on the mound.

The Hawks, 22-13 and 13-9 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, return home to host Drury in a pair of  doubleheaders on Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (noon).