BELTON, Texas - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team used late momentum to split its doubleheader with No. 7 UT Dallas Saturday in Belton. The Crusaders' last-inning comeback fell short in the 13-9 game one loss, but some back-and-forth drama in game two resulted in a 12-10 win for the Cru. The split moves UMHB to 9-9 overall and 5-7 in American Southwest Conference play and moves UTD to 17-3 overall and 10-2 in the ASC.
 
The Crusaders opened up scoring in game 1 with an RBI sacrifice fly by Malek Bolin in the first inning. Ramon Garza tied the game for the Comets with a solo homerun in the third frame. That ended scoring until Garza hit an RBI double in the sixth. A.J. Liu followed with an RBI double to make it 3-1 in favor of UTD. The Comets scored ten insurance runs in the top of the seventh. UT Dallas the runs off 10 hits and an error, making it 13-1 with three outs to play. The Crusaders responded with two-out rally and begin crawling back with an RBI single by Warren Sammons, two-RBI singles by Malek Bolin and Rhett Grosz and a three-run homer by Hunter Jones. UMHB got the tying run to the plate but fell short of the equalizer, sealing the 13-9 win for the Comets. Rahul Champaneri got the start on the mound for UMHB, striking out four in the loss (1-2). Champaneri threw six innings, giving up three runs on five hits. Alex Palczewski and Chris Dubois each threw in the last frame, giving up a combined 10 runs on 10 hits. Carter Cochrane started on the mound for the Comets and earned the win (3-1, throwing five innings with one run on three hist. Four relievers threw in the last two innings for the Comets, giving up eight runs on six hits. Jones and Bolin each had three RBI for the Cru while Garza led the way for UTD with four hits and four RBI.
 
UT Dallas opened scoring in the first inning of game two on a pair of RBI singles from Deylan Moreno and A.J. Liu, an RBI fielder's choice and an outfield error. The Comets took their 5-0 lead into the bottom half of the frame where the Cru answered on a two-RBI double by Hunter Jones and an error that allowed Jones to score. UTD tacked on two more runs in the third inning on an error and a fielder's choice, giving the Comets the 7-3 advantage. UMHB answered again with RBI singles by Jones and Caimyn Holiday and a two-RBI triple from Rhett Grosz. A sacrifice fly and a two-run homer in the fifth inning gave the Comets another lead but the Cru answered with an RBI single from Staton Dudley in the bottom half of the frame, cutting the Comet lead to 10-8. Holiday hit another RBI single in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to one run. UMHB tacked on two more runs later in the inning on an RBI walk from Kaden deBerardinis and a passed ball that scored Holiday, giving UMHB a one-run lead. Grosz singled in the bottom of the eighth to score an insurance run for the Cru, heading into the final frame with a two-run UMHB advantage. Zack Honey threw three consecutive outs to secure the win for the Cru.
 
Nicklas Fenner threw three innings in his start for UMHB. Fenner gave up eight hits and seven runs, three of which were earned. Trevor Ripke came in relief and threw two innings, giving up three runs off four hits. Honey relieved Ripke, surrendering just one hit in four shutout innings in the win (1-0). Grosz and Jones led the Cru with three RBI each. Trevor McGrath started for the Comets, throwing 2.1 innings with six runs and three hits allowed. Andrew Vorst relieved McGrath, throwing 1.2 innings with one run on two hits. Joshua Wood threw next for UT Dallas, going 2.1 innings with three runs and one hit surrendered. Ryan Vera took the loss for the Comets, throwing 0.2 innings with one run off one hit.
 
The Crusaders continue their season on Tuesday, March 22^nd in a 6 p.m. non-conference contest against Trinity University at Red Murff Field in Belton.