BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team split a Friday doubleheader at LeTourneau University, dropping game one 3-0 before bouncing back for a late rally to take the series finale 9-6. UMHB moved to 18-15 on the season and 12-12 in American Southwest Conference action while the YellowJackets went to 13-21 overall and 10-7 in league play.
The first game of Saturday's doubleheader saw another pitcher's duel as the game was decided by one swing. UMHB was able to scratch some singles in the first, third and fourth innings but failed to bring anyone around to score. LETU got a single of their own in the first inning but stranded that runner as well. The YellowJackets were able to get more baserunners on in the fourth inning and eventually took advantage on a three-RBI homer by Andrew Klingenstein. A
Malek Bolin single in the sixth inning was all the Crusaders could respond with as UMHB fell 3-0.
Rahul Champaneri started on the mound for UMHB and suffered the loss (1-5). Champaneri threw four innings and allowed three runs on four hits, striking struck out five batters. Champaneri forced four groundouts and two flyouts in the outing.
Cameron Bogan came in relief for the Cru and was able to keep UMHB in the game with two shutout innings and one hit allowed. Aman Patel got the start for LETU and threw a complete-game shutout. Patel gave up five hits and forced eleven flyouts and seven groundouts.
Game two played to more of a Crusader advantage as UMHB jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning.
Caimyn Holiday stole home to bring across the first Crusader run before
Sam Muniga hit a two-RBI single to extend the lead to three. During the next at-bat,
Staton Dudley stole home and gave UMHB their fourth run. LETU answered with a pair of RBI singles by Cole Thompson and Ethan Wood in the second inning to cut the Crusader lead in half. Scoring came to a halt until
Staton Dudley grounded out and scored
Robert McCall in the sixth inning to give UMHB a 5-2 lead. The YellowJackets quickly responded in the same inning on another RBI single by Wood but the Cru got that run back in the top of the seventh on an RBI sacrifice flyout by Holiday. With UMHB up 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh, LETU rallied back and scored three runs to tie it up at six. RBI singles by Klingenstein and Thompson made it 6-5, then an RBI groundout by Devin Greaff knotted the score at six apiece. With the score still tied in the top of the ninth,
Malek Bolin gave the Crusaders another lead on a three-RBI home run to make the score 9-6. This was Bolin's 11th home run of the season, setting the new UMHB single-season record (Division III era).
Nicklas Fenner started on the mound for UMHB and threw two innings, allowing two runs on four hits.
Alex Palczewski relieved Fenner and threw four innings, allowing just one run on four hits.
Chris Dubois came in to face three batters before
Zach Carroll came in to salvage the inning and didn't allow a run.
Andrew Acierni made his return from injury and threw two no-hit, shutout innings on his way to earning the win (1-0). Landon Shocks got the start for the YellowJackets and threw five innings in the contest. Shocks gave up five runs on four hits before being relieved by Landry Suarez. Suarez threw two innings and allowed just one run on one hit in his outing. TJ Spitdowski relieved Suarez and threw two innings. Spitdowski allowed three runs on five hits and took the loss for LETU (1-1). Hunter Miller and Cole Thompson had three hits each in the contest for LETU, and
Robert McCall and
Ryan Farmer each had two hits for the Cru.
UMHB returns to action at 6 P.M. on Tuesday, April 19th against TLU in a non-conference home game in Belton.
