MARSHALL, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team rallied after one big inning, but could not come back from a second as the Cru lost a 13-5 decision to East Texas Baptist Sunday afternoon in Marshall. The loss drops UMHB to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. The Tigers improve to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in the ASC with the victory.
 
The Cru manufactured a run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Caimyn Holiday singled and moved to second on Jeb Zolman's single. Both players stole a base before Holiday scored on a throw to first base following a strikeout. ETBU tied the game with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first and added four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-1 lead. ETBU would add another run in the fourth. UMHB cut into the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Zolman singled home two runs and Mateo Calle added a sacrifice fly to pull the Cru to within 6-4. Kaden deBeradinis singled home a run in the top of the sixth to make it a one-run game at 6-5. UMHB would put runners at second and third in the top of the seventh, but could not push across a run. The Tigers would get some breathing room with six runs on an RBI single, a three-run homer and back-to-back solo shots in the bottom of that inning to stretch the lead to 12-5. ETBU added a run in the bottom of the eighth and the Cru could not cut into the lead in the ninth.
 
Holiday and deBeradinis had three hits apiece as UMHB finished with 11 hits as a team. Charles Gordon had four hits and four RBI to lead the ETBU offense. Trevor Ripke took the loss for the Cru to drop to 0-2 on the season. Sayers Collins earned the win for the Tigers to even his record at 1-1.
 
The Cru will return to action with a three-game, non-conference series at Austin College next weekend in Sherman. The two teams open the series with a 7 pm single game on Friday before closing out the weekend with a 3 pm doubleheader on Saturday.