BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team used an explosive eighth inning to earn a 9-6 win over Schreiner University Friday night in Belton. The win improved the Cru to 11-1 while the Mountaineers fell to 5-11. 

The Cru defense opened the contest with a pair of three-up three-down innings from James McGlumphy, highlighted by a groundout double play in the top of the second. 

The Mountaineers scored first in the third inning, loading the bases and scoring on a walk. Schreiner added two more on a single from Joseph DiCarlo for a 3-0 margin. The lead was short lived as the Cru evened the game in the bottom of the same frame. Rhett Grosz hit a two-RBI single to score Cameron Talburt and Tyler Betts before RIley Bender scored Carson Hagan on a sacrifice fly for the 3-3 knot. 

Both teams got runners on base in the fifth inning but the knot remained until the top of the eighth inning when Aidan Warren hit a two-RBI single to score Adam Sanchez and Seth Joseph. Schreiner added one more eighth-inning run to take a 6-3 lead. 

UMHB's offense responded with a strong eighth inning to go ahead 9-6. Rhett Grosz opened the inning with a double before Riley Bender rebounded from an 0-2 count to earn a walk. Grosz scored on the next at-bat off an RBI from Kaden deBerardinis before Exavier Mendez hit a two-RBI single up the middle to score deBerardinis and Bender. Blake Gonzalez followed that with a single before scoring with Ryan Farmer off an RBI double from Tyler Betts. UMHB added one more run in the frame with Drake Herrera scoring off an RBI from Carson Hagan, putting the Cru ahead going into the final inning of action. 

DiCarlo opened the ninth with a single before Nicklas Fenner threw a strikeout for the first out of the frame. Fenner forced a ground out for the second out before throwing to first for the third out and Cru win. 

Betts and Grosz both led the Cru with four hits and two RBI each while deBerardinis added two. UMHB used a trio of pitchers for the win. McGlumphy threw five innings with seven strikeouts while Jacob Haynes added 2.2 innings of work with three strikeouts. Nicklas Fenner earned the win on the mound, throwing 1.1 innings with three hits allowed. 

"I knew that if I had something I could create a spark and I knew the guys would be behind me," Grosz said. "The dugout ignited. We had guys taking great two-strike approaches ... that was my main goal." 

UMHB returns to action on Saturday, March 9th in a 12 p.m. doubleheader against Schreiner University in Belton.