GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team got off to a hot start but cooled off in chilly conditions as the Cru fell to Texas Lutheran University 9-5 in the season opener for both teams Friday evening in Grand Prairie. The game was the finale on the opening day of the Rusty Greer/Jackie Moore Classic.
 
UMHB put two runs on the board in the top of the first inning. Landon Dieterich's single plated Dawson Sibley with the first run and Jacob Dellipoali hit a sacrifice fly in his first collegiate at-bat to score Garrett Gonzales and give the Cru a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs did the bulk of their damage in the third, fourth and fifth innings. TLU scored three in the third to grab a 3-2 lead by bunching four hits. A run-scoring balk and wild pitch allowed two more runs to cross in the fourth to make it 5-2 Texas Lutheran. The Bulldogs tacked on three more in the fifth to stretch the lead to 8-2. Hunter McQuary's RBI triple cut the lead to 8-3 in the top of the sixth innings. After the Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the seventh, Caimyn Holiday singled home two runs in the top of the eighth to pull the Cru to within 9-5, but that was as close as UMHB could get.
 
Cameron Whitman scattered eight hits and allowed five runs as the Cru's starting pitcher to drop to 0-1 on the season. Andrew Hutchings struck out four batters in three and two-thirds innings of relief. Six different players had hits for UMHB and the five runs were scored by five different players. Drew Waller scattered two hits and did not allow an earned run to pick up the victory for TLU. Cullen Motsinger had four hits and Chad Curtis added three as the Bulldogs posted 17 hits as a team in the victory.
 
The Cru returns to action with an 11 am start against American Southwest Conference rival Concordia Texas on Saturday. UMHB will close out the tournament with a 1 pm first pitch against Hendrix College on Saturday.