ALPINE, Texas - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team crawled its way back into game one to send it to extra innings but couldn't hang, dropping the first contest 10-8. The Cru bounced back early in game two and held a lead the entire way in a 14-9 victory. The split brings the Crusader record to 20-16 overall and 13-13 in American Southwest Conference play and gives the Lobos a 13-19 overall record and 10-16 in league play.
 
UMHB opened the scoring in game one with an RBI single by Rhett Grosz in the top of the second to make it 1-0. Sul Ross answered in the bottom half as Peyton Kennard hit an RBI sacrifice bunt to tie it up 1-1. The Crusaders responded their next time up on a couple of RBI singles by Malek Bolin and Drake Herrera to give them a 3-1 advantage. Sul Ross responded with a big inning, scoring seven runs on seven hits. A Kennard three-run homer and RBI singles by Jared Roiz, Carsen Thor, Estevan Ortiz, and Tristan Karels gave the Lobos a 8-3 lead heading into the fourth inning. UMHB chipped into that lead with two runs in the fourth inning as Bolin grounded out to score Kaden deBerardinis and Robert McCall hit an RBI single. The Cru added two more runs as Herrera scored on a deBerardinis double play groundout and Sam Muniga scored on a passed ball making the score 8-7 Sul Ross. UMHB completed the comeback in the sixth inning as Bolin crossed home plate on a fielding error by SRSU to make it 8-8. After a couple scoreless innings, Ortiz walked it off for the Lobos with a two-run homer to hand the Crusaders the 10-8 loss. 
 
James McGlumphy started on the mound for UMHB and threw 2.2 innings. McGlumphy gave up seven runs, two of which were earned, on seven hits. Alex Palczewski came in relief and finished out the third inning, giving up one run on two hits. Chris Dubois relieved Palczewski and threw a shutout inning giving up just one hit and was relieved by Trevor Ripke. Ripke took the loss (4-4) and threw 4.1 innings giving up two runs on six hits while striking out five. Sam Russell started for the Lobos and threw 4.2 innings. Russell allowed seven runs on twelve hits and was relieved by Aiden Mow. Mow threw 1.1 innings and allowed one unearned run on 2 hits before being relieved by Chris Ibanez. Ibanez threw three shutout innings allowing one hit on his way to the victory (1-0). McCall and Grosz each had three hits for the Cru and Karels and Kennard each had three hits for the Lobos.
 
UMHB bounced back and scored early as Caimyn Holiday and Hunter Jones each had RBI singles in the first inning to give UMHB an early 2-0 lead in game two. Scoring continued as Staton Dudley hit a three-run homer to make it 5-0 before Grosz hit a two-run homer of his own to make it 7-0 in the first inning. Scoring didn't stop for UMHB as deBerardinis scored on a fielding error by the Lobo shortstop and Herrera scored on a wild pitch, giving the Cru a 9-0 lead before Sul Ross could even bat. The Lobos responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half on a Roiz RBI single and a Thor RBI groundout. Sul Ross fought back some more in the fourth inning with a three-run homer by Ortiz and an RBI sacrifice flyout to make it 9-6 UMHB. The Cru got three of those runs back in the fifth frame as McCall hit an RBI sacrifice flyout, Bolin scored on a wild pitch, and Muniga hit an RBI double to extend the Crusader lead back out to six. SRSU responded again as Roiz hit an RBI double and later scored on a passed ball to make it 12-8. The two teams traded runs in the sixth inning on a couple of RBI groundouts but the Lobos couldn't do anything else as UMHB walked away with the 14-9 win. 
 
Nicklas Fenner started on the mound for the Cru and earned his fifth victory of the year. Fenner threw four innings and allowed six runs on six hits before Cameron Bogan came in relief. Bogan threw one inning and allowed two runs on three hits. Isaac Brann faced a couple of batters in relief but couldn't record an out before he was relieved by Zachary Carroll who threw one inning and struck out two batters. Zack Honey threw the final inning for UMHB and didn't allow a hit or a run while striking out two Lobos. Dean Foley started for Sul Ross and only recorded one out before being pulled. Foley allowed eight runs on five hits. Aiden Becker threw four innings of relief and allowed three runs on seven hits. Jacob Salinas and Christian Loveless each threw 1.1 innings in relief and allowed a combined three runs on four hits. Dudley led UMHB with three hits and three RBI in the contest.
 
UMHB closes out the series against Sul Ross on Saturday, April 23 with a single game starting at 1 P.M. in Alpine.