BROWNWOOD, Texas - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team split a doubleheader with Howard Payne University Saturday afternoon in Brownwood. The Cru moved to 9-1 on the season and 5-1 in American Southwest Conference action while the Yellow Jackets moved to 6-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
UMHB scored early in game one when Cameron Talburt reached home on a sacrifice fly from Rhett Grosz. The Cru added one more run in the second when Tyler Betts hit in Blake Gonzalez on an RBI single through the left side.Â
The Cru defense limited the Yellow Jackets to just two hits through the next three innings before extending the margin to six in the fifth frame. Grosz got the scoring started with an RBI single to bring in Carson Hagan. Grosz then scored on a throwing error followed by an RBI from Carson Riley that scored Riley Bender .Kaden deBeradinis closed the scoring for the Cru, reaching home on a double-steal for the 6-0 lead.Â
UMHB continued to press forward in the sixth inning, adding five more runs. An RBI single from deBerardinis scored Hagan and Talburt to go ahead 8-0 before Carson Riley hit in Riley Bender with an RBI single. deBerardinis added the tenth run on a wild pitch while Riley added the 11th on an RBI single from Gonzalez.
Drake Herrera added another score in the final inning on a wild pitch before Staton Dudley brought the Cru ahead 13-0, scoring on an RBI single from Warren Sammons. The Yellow Jackets got on the board in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run but could not overcome the deficit, giving UMHB the 13-1 victory.
Rahul Champaneri (2-0) earned the win for UMHB, throwing 6.1 innings with one run on eight hits allowed while Mason Semmelman threw the final two outs for the Cru. UMHB outhit the Yellow Jackets 15-10, led by Grosz and deBerardinis with two hits and two RBI each.
UMHB scored first again in game two with a Hagan run on a Grosz double to right center in the top of the second inning. The Cru had an explosive third inning, increasing their lead 7-0. Grosz sparked the scoring with a double to bring Hagan home. Bender followed that with a single to score Grosz. Three at-bats later, Elijah Rodriguez singled to left center to score deBerardinis and Bender to go up 5-0. Easton Cline scored on an RBI from Gonzalez before a Betts single to third base brought home Rodriguez.
The Yellow Jackets scored their first run in the bottom of the third on an RBI double. Howard Payne scored again in the fourth frame to cut the gap 7-2. The Yellow Jackets continued scoring in the fifth inning with a duo of RBI triples and an RBI groundout, cutting the gap to two.
UMHB broke its scoring drought in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice bunt from deBerardinis to score Hagan. The Yellow Jackets answered in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single followed by an RBI double to cut the gap 8-7.
The Cru held the Yellow Jackets to seven through the bottom of the eighth, recording a perfect inning with Jacob Haynes on the mound. The Yellow Jackets continued fighting in the bottom of the ninth, scoring the tying run on an RBI single to right field and forcing extra innings.
Action continued scoreless until the top of the 12th inning when Drake Herrera scored on a Hagan RBI single up the middle to put the Cru on top 9-8. UMHB's lead was short lived as the Yellow Jackets knotted it up again on an RBI single up the middle before earning the 10-9 walk-off win on a single to right field.
James McGlumphy started on the mound for the Cru, pitching five innings with four earned runs on nine hits. McGlumphy struck out five batters in the outing.  Nicklas Fenner, Jacob Haynes, Robert Sanford and Keegan Symons (0-1) also made mound appearances for UMHB. The Cru recorded 15 hits in the contest, led by Grosz and Rodriguez with three hits each.
UMHB returns to action on March 5th in a 7:00 p.m. contest against Trinity University in San Antonio. Â
