Abilene, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team could not overcome early deficits in either game as the Cru dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Hardin-Simmons University Saturday in Abilene. UMHB fell by scores of 10-4 and 15-3 as the Cru had its two-game winning streak snapped.
Hardin-Simmons jumped out to a 9-1 lead on the way to a 10-4 game one victory. The Cowboys scored two in the bottom of the first inning, but UMHB got a run back when Austin Blanford scored on a wild pitch in the top of the second. HSU added a run in the bottom of that frame, but three on the board in the bottom of the third, tacked on one more in the fourth and scored twice in the fifth for that 9-1 lead. The Cru rallied with a three-run sixth as Blanford and Caleb Davis had run-scoring fielder's choices and another run scored on an error. But Hardin-Simmons scored one more in the bottom of the sixth and UMHB could not answer. Evan Samoff took the loss for the Cru to drop to 0-3 on the year. Landon Dieterich had two of UMHB's five hits in the contest. Garrett Johnson earned his first win of the year for HSU and the Cowboys had three home runs among their 14 total hits.
UMHB fell behind in the opening inning in game two and lost 15-3 in a game shortened to seven innings on the run rule. The Cowboys scored twice in the bottom of the first and added five more runs in the bottom of the second. Trailing 8-0, the Cru put three on the board in the top of the fifth as Dakota Best singled home a run, Robbie Gillen scored on a passed ball and Mitch Patterson added an RBI single. Hardin-Simmons would score two more in the bottom of the sixth and closed out the contest with a five-run seventh inning. Best had three hits for the Cru and Patterson and Gillen added two each. Connor Heussner took the loss on the mound for UMHB. Ty Englehardt picked up the win for HSU
The Cru drops to 3-7 overall and 1-2 in American Southwest Conference play following the sweep. Hardin-Simmons improves to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in the ASC with the two victories. UMHB will now return home to host East Texas Baptist University for a three-game ASC series next weekend. The two teams will open that series with a 6:00 PM single game Friday at Red Murff Field.
