MARSHALL, Texas - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team fought back late and used the short porch in Marshall to lift them to an 11-7 victory over the McMurry War Hawks in the first game of the 2022 American Southwest Conference Baseball Championship Blue Bracket Tournament. UMHB has now posted tournament victories in back-to-back year under third-year head coach Mike Stawski.

McMurry jumped on top early with a two-run homer by Reed Hodges in the first inning. Two batters later, a solo shot was sent over the right-center field wall by Josh Dyer. Down 3-0 in the top of the third frame, Drake Herrera hit an RBI single to cut into the deficit. After a Caimyn Holiday single to load the bases, Malek Bolin did his thing and hit a grand slam to give the Cru a 5-3 lead. McMurry responded in the bottom of the same frame with an RBI single by Dyer followed by a two-run homer by Xavier Escobar, giving the Warhawks a 6-5 lead. The score would hold until the top of the eighth when Sam Muniga drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a two RBI double. Kaden deBerardinis followed that up with a two-RBI single to extend the Cru lead to 9-6.

McMurry responded in the same inning with another solo home run by Dyer to make it 9-7. The Crusaders responded with a couple of insurance runs in the ninth inning as Bolin hit his second home run of the day and Robert McCall followed it up with a solo blast of his own, making it 11-7.

James McGlumphy started on the mound for UMHB and threw 2.2 innings. McGlumphy allowed six runs on six hits before being relieved by Zack Honey. Honey threw 1.1 innings without allowing a hit or a run and was then relieved by Trevor Ripke who had another stellar outing. Ripke threw four innings allowing just one run on four hits on his way to the win (5-4). Andrew Acierni came in to close out the ninth and went three-up, three-down to give the Cru the win.

Derek Hostas started on the mound for the Warhawks took the loss (6-4). Hostas threw 7.1 innings and allowed seven runs on eight hits while striking out eleven batters. Hostas was relieved by Travis Beauchamp who allowed four runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of work.

Bolin led the Cru with five RBI in the contest to extend his single season record to 54. When asked about the shorter field, Bolin said that he "let it get in [his] head early on, but went back to the approach [they've] been working on all year and found success."

UMHB will return to action tomorrow, Saturday May 7th, at 3 P.M. and will face the winner of the bracket-host East Texas Baptist University and LeTourneau University.