Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team used a different method in each game but got the same result as the Cru swept a doubleheader from Belhaven University Friday in Belton. UMHB rallied late to win game one 5-3 and jumped in front early in an 8-5 game two win. The Cru improves to 12-12 overall and 6-5 in American Southwest Conference play with the sweep. The losses drop the Blazers to 16-11 overall and 7-7 in ASC play on the year.
UMHB rallied late for a 5-3 win in game one. Back-to-back doubles gave the Blazers a first inning lead and Kreg Garner's solo home run stretched it to 2-0 in the top of the second. Mark Frankhouser tied the game for the Cru with a two-run blast in the bottom of the fourth inning. Belhaven loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth, but Casey Frazier worked his way out of that jam with no damage and UMHB put three on the board in the bottom of that frame. The Cru made the most of two Blazer errors and Mitch Patterson drove in a run to give UMHB a 5-2 lead. Stephen Sexton's solo homer pulled Belhaven to within 5-3 in the top of the sixth, but Aaron Barteau came on to strike out the side in the top of the seventh to preserve the win and notch his sixth save. Frazier scattered four hits and struck out four in five innings to move to 2-0 on the year. Frankhouser and Patterson combined for all four of the Cru's hits. Tanner Cable allowed just four hits and two earned runs but dropped to 3-2 for the Blazers. Belhaven only managed five hits in the contest.
UMHB scored six runs in the first two innings and then held on for an 8-5 game two win. Landon Dieterich opened the scoring with an RBI single and Ty Johnson added a two-run single to give the Cru a 3-0 edge after one inning. Dakota Best, Jackson Godoy and Johnson all had RBI singles in the third to push it to 6-0. Gabe Veith's three-run double cut the lead to 6-3 in the top of the sixth, but the Cru got a run back on Johnson's RBI single in the bottom of that inning. The Blazers closed the gap to 7-5 with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but Patterson's RBI single provided an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Barteau pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save of the season. Nathan Kent evened his record at 3-3 after scattering eight hits over five and two-thirds innings for UMHB. Johnson had three hits and four RBI for the Cru and Dieterich also had three hits as UMHB pounded out 15 base hits in the game. London Boyd took the loss for Belhaven and three Blazers had two hits apiece.
The two teams will close out the series with a single game on Saturday. The start time for the series finale has moved up to an 11:00 AM start due to the threat of rain in Central Texas.
