BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Concordia University Texas with a pair of wins over the Tornados Saturday in Belton. The Cru improved to 17-12 on the season and 11-10 in American Southwest Conference action while the Tornados fell to 11-17 overall and 10-11 in league play.
Concordia Texas jumped to an early lead in the first game, scoring three runs in the first inning. UMHB responded with five second-inning runs off a two-RBI home run from
Robert McCall and a three-RBI double from
Caimyn Holiday.
Hunter Jones added another run in the third inning with a solo home run before Daniel Bojorquez drove in a pair of runs for the Tornados to cut the lead to one. CTX tied the game in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Ian Perez.
Malek Bolin responded with a solo home run in the bottom of that inning to give UMHB a 7-6 lead. The Cru went on to score four sixth-inning runs, highlighted by a two-RBI home run from
Staton Dudley. Concordia added just one more run, sealing the Cru's 11-7 victory.
Jones and Dudley led the Cru with two hits each while Holiday had a team-high four RBI. Eight different Crusaders scored runs as UMHB hit .458 in the contest.
Rahul Champaneri started the contest for the Cru, throwing four innings with five strikeouts. Three Crusaders pitched in relief, combining for four hits and two runs. UMHB totaled 11 runs on 11 hits with one error while the Tornados had seven runs on nine hits with one error.
Big bats continued for the Cru in the second contest. CTX took a two-run lead in the first before
Warren Sammons doubled to cut the lead to one. UMHB took a four-run lead in the bottom of the second frame off an RBI single from
Kaden deBerardinis and a grand slam from
Warren Sammons. UMHB added five runs in the third and eight runs in the fourth to take a 19-2 lead.
Hunter Jones and
Malek Bolin both homered in that stretch with
Caimyn Holiday adding a pair of RBI hits. Concordia Texas put up single-run innings in the fifth and sixth innings.
Tony Rath and
Tyler Martin both homered in the sixth inning while
Keagan Wolfe slammed an RBI single, putting the Cru up 24-5. The Tornados added two more seventh-inning runs but UMHB took the win 24-7 after six and a half innings.
Holiday, Sammons and
Rhett Grosz led the Cru with three hits each while Sammons had a team-high six RBI and Holiday scored a team-high four runs. UMHB totaled 24 runs on 22 hits with 23 RBI in the contest.
Nicklas Fenner earned the win on the mound, throwing five innings with seven hits and four runs allowed. UMHB limited the Tornados to 10 hits and seven runs with eight strikeouts.
UMHB totaled nine home runs on the day as
Malek Bolin set a new program-record for home runs in a career with 27. The Cru also celebrated a Pink Out game, honoring all those affected by breast and female cancers. Administrative Assistant to the Vice President for Athletics
Claudia Nunez threw out the ceremonial first pitch while freshman pitcher
Cayden Musgrove caught the throw. Musgrove lost his mom, Sonya, to stage four metastatic breast cancer 17 days after diagnosis last month. UMHB also released pink balloons in honor of Sonya Musgrove and all those affected by female cancers. The Cru won the final game of the series by 17 runs, Cayden's jersey number.
UMHB returns to road action next week in a three-game series at LeTourneau University in Longview.
