JACKSON, Mississippi - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team earned the program's 400th Division-III win Saturday with a 15-6 victory over Belhaven University. The series win brings the Cru to 12-10 overall and 7-8 in conference play. Belhaven fell to 12-10 overall and 11-7 in the ASC with the loss.
 
UMHB got the bats going early with an RBI single by Hunter Jones to put the Cru up 1-0. UMHB went up 5-0 in the second inning with an RBI double by Kaden deBerardinis and consecutive RBI singles by Jones and Warren Sammons. Belhaven answered in the third inning with a couple of RBI singles from Kyle McLaughlin and Nathan Herron to make it 5-2. UMHB answered in the next frame when Caimyn Holiday stole third and advanced home on a throwing error by the catcher to put the Cru up four. The Crusaders extended their lead in the top of the fifth inning on a two-RBI single by deBerardinis to make it 8-2 at the halfway point. In the bottom of the same frame, Belhaven was only able to scratch one run on an RBI fielder's choice to cut the Cru lead to five.
 
Malek Bolin led off the top of the sixth inning with a solo home run to quickly bring the UMHB lead back to six. A couple of RBI doubles and an RBI single by the Blazers in the bottom half of the same inning cut the lead in half and made it a 9-6 ballgame with three innings to go. The scoring came to a halt until the ninth inning when UMHB broke through for six insurance runs. The ninth inning scoring began on a line drive, two-run homer by Rhett Grosz bringing the score to 11-6. Later in the inning, Holiday hit an RBI groundout to bring in Sam Muniga. Bolin capped off the scoring for the day with his second home run of the game that also brought in deBerardinis and Drake Herrera to make the score 15-6.
 
Nicklas Fenner started on the mound for UMHB and earned the win (3-1). Fenner threw 5.2 innings and gave up six runs on nine hits while striking out five. Zack Honey came in relief and threw 1.2 innings without allowing a run and only giving up one hit. Trevor Ripke relieved Honey and closed out the game throwing 1.2 innings and allowing no runs on just one hit. Beau Louviere got the start on the mound for the Blazers and took the loss, dropping his record to 1-3 for the season. Louviere threw 1.2 innings and gave up five runs on six hits. Louviere was relieved by Luke Miller who threw 2.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits. Joshua Thomas came in for Miller and threw 3.2 innings on his way to giving up four runs on five hits. Logan Goodreau also made an appearance for Belhaven, giving up three runs on two hits. Malek Bolin led the way for the Crusaders as he posted four RBI and four hits in the contest. Kaden deBerardinis also added four hits of his own.
 
The Crusaders continue their season with a non-conference matchup against Southwestern on Tuesday, March 29th. The game will take place in Belton and starts at 6 P.M.