BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team dropped a 10-8 loss to Southwestern University Tuesday evening in Belton. The loss moved the Cru to 17-9 overall while the Pirates improved to 15-11.
UMHB's offense came out swinging, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Kyle Hogwood reached base on a double to left field before
Carson Hagan hit him in on his at-bat. Hagan scored one batter later off an RBI single from
Rhett Grosz to put the Cru up by two after one frame. UMHB added two more runs in the next inning, scoring
Chris Perez on a sacrifice bunt from Hogwood and
Ryan Farmer on a balk.
Jayden Chatman added another score in the third, scoring on a wild pitch for a five-run lead. The Cru added two more runs in that inning, scoring
Elijah Rodriguez on an RBI from
Kaden deBerardinis and
Chris Perez on a wild pitch.
Southwestern scored a trio of runs in the fifth inning to cut the gap to four runs. UMHB held the Pirates scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings but the Southwestern added another run in the eighth off a wild pitch. The Pirates tied the game on the next at-bat when Owen Stevenson hit a home run over the left field wall to tie the game at 7-7. Southwestern took a lead in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs on an RBI triple from Maxwell Mims and another run off a fielder's choice to take a 10-7 lead.
UMHB added one more run in the bottom of the ninth but Southwestern held on for the 10-8 win. Grosz and Rodriguez led the Cru with two hits each while Perez added a team-high two runs.
Nicklas Fenner took the loss for the Cru throwing 1.2 innings with three runs and two hits allowed. UMHB threw seven total pitchers in the contest, with
Quint Mullen and
Gavan Hutton both throwing hitless frames.
UMHB returns to action this weekend in a three-game series against Hardin-Simmons University. The Cru will open with Neon Night on Friday, April 5
th in a 6 p.m. contest against the Cowboys. UMHB will close the series with a noon doubleheader on Saturday, April 6
th and honor the 2024 senior class after that contest.