BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Baseball team split a doubleheader with Texas Lutheran University on Sunday afternoon in Belton. The Cru moved to a 4-4 overall record while the Bulldogs moved to 2-6 on the season.

Texas Lutheran took a lead in the top of the first with a pair of runs scored. Blade Strzelczyck scored on an error before Joe Jimenez hit in Blake Cappadonna on sacrifice fly. UMHB evened the contest in the bottom of that frame. Kaden deBerardinis opened the inning with a double to left field before Caimyn Holiday advanced him to third with a bunt. deBerardinis scored on a sacrifice fly from Malek Bolin to put the Cru on the board. Holiday got into scoring position with a pair of stolen bases and evened the contest with a score off an RBI single from Ryan Farmer. 

The 2-2 score held until the bottom of the seventh when Ryan Farmer hit an RBI single to score Malek Bolin and give UMHB a 3-2 win. Bolin and Farmer led the Cru with three hits each while five other Crusaders each added one. Farmer led the Cru with two RBI, followed by Bolin with one. James McGlumphy opened the game for the Cru, pitching three innings with two runs and four hits allowed. Trevor Ripke earned the win for the Cru, throwing four shutout innings with three strikeouts. Matthew Hickey took the loss for the Bulldogs, throwing three innings with three hits and one run allowed. UMHB totaled three runs on 11 hits with one error while the Bulldogs had two runs on seven hits.  

The Bulldogs took another early lead in the second contest when Strzelczyck scored on an RBI from Randy Huerta. UMHB responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of that frame. Bolin hit in deBerardinis on a sacrifice fly before Farmer scored Caimyn Holiday with an RBI single to left field. deBerardinis scored Robert McCall with an RBI single in the bottom of the second to put the Cru up by two runs. The Bulldogs responded with a three-run inning in the third to go up by a run, but UMHB responded with back-to-back bases-loaded walks in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead.  The Bulldogs jumped ahead in the top of the fifth with a bases-loaded walk followed by a two-run RBI single from Philippus. The Bulldogs continued to push forward expanding their advantage 8-5 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh. UMHB cut the gap down to one with a homerun from Rhett Grosz in the bottom of the seventh followed by a run from Holiday brought in by an RBI single from Farmer in the bottom of the eighth. The ninth inning remained scoreless and the Bulldogs claimed the 8-7 victory.

Nicklas Fenner opened on the mound for the Cru, pitching three innings and giving up four runs. Cameron Bogan took the loss for UMHB allowing three hits and three runs in two innings. Alex Palczewski and Chris Dubois also made two inning appearances on the mound for the Cru. UMHB totaled 12 hits on seven runs while the Bulldogs had 12 hits on eight runs. The Cru was led by deBerardinis with three hits while Holiday and Farmer claimed two each.