Postgame Presser
BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team earned a 10-5 win over Concordia University Texas to open American Southwest Conference play Friday night in Belton. The win improved the Cru to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in ASC action while the Tornados fell to 4-4 overall and 0-1 in league play.
UMHB opened the contest with a strong first inning as the Cru turned a double play and Andrew Acierni threw a strikeout for a three-batter inning. The Tornados took a lead in the top of the next frame, scoring three runs in the top of the second.
UMHB's offense responded in the bottom of the third inning, scoring five runs on a trio of hits. Tyler Betts opened scoring with an RBI single to score Chris Perez before Cameron Talburt hit in Blake Gonzalez with a sacrifice fly to right field. Rhett Grosz followed with an RBI double to score Betts before Riley Bender hit his first home run as a Crusader, scoring Grosz for a 5-3 UMHB lead.
The Cru added a single-run frame in the fifth when Carson Hagan scored on a sacrifice fly from Bender. UMHB added three more runs on two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tyler Betts singled before stealing second and scoring on an RBI single from Cameron Talburt. Talburt stole second then scored two batters later when Rhett Grosz hit him and Carson Hagan in with an RBI single to centerfield.
Concordia Texas responded in the eighth with runs from Colby Christian and Brandon Goynes to cut the gap to four runs. UMHB sealed the five-run win in the eighth, scoring Talburt off a sacrifice fly from Kaden deBerardinis.
Andrew Acierni earned the win on the mound for the Cru. Acierni threw six innings with just three runs allowed. Jacob Haynes threw two innings in relief, allowing two runs before Quint Mullen threw a shutout ninth frame.
Betts, Talburt and Grosz all led the Cru with two hits each while UMHB totaled 12 in the contest. Betts, Talburt and Hagan each added a team-high two runs while Grosz and Bender each drove in three runs. UMHB totaled 10 runs on 12 hits with one error while the Tornados scored five runs on 12 hits with two errors.
"Starting 4-0 is obviously huge," junior Riley Bender said. "Especially against a great team. Our guys were just firing on all cylinders. I just hope we can keep it up and just keep rolling through conference."
UMHB returns to action on Saturday, February 24th in a 12 p.m. doubleheader against the Tornados at Red Murff Field in Belton.
