BELTON, Texas - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team dropped a two-run decision to Hardin-Simmons University Saturday afternoon in Belton. The loss dropped the Cru to 15-10 overall while the Cowboys improved to 6-17.
 
Hardin-Simmons opened the game with a single-run first inning to take the lead. The Cowboys tacked on another run in the third to go ahead by two and held that margin until the bottom of the sixth when Alejandro Sanchez III hit a solo home run to cut the gap to one. Shane Melick followed, hitting another solo home run in the seventh to knot the game at two.
 
The Cowboys added two more unearned runs in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead. UMHB loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth but Hardin-Simmons got out of the jam to go into the ninth still with a two-run lead. UMHB got another runner on in the ninth but Hardin-Simmons eliminated the threat with a double play to seal the win.
 
Sanchez led the Cru with two hits while four other Crusaders each added one. Mason Semmelmann pitched the first four innings, giving up seven hits with two runs and one earned runs allowed. Reid Cromie closed on the mound, throwing five innings with two hits and two runs allowed.
 
UMHB returns to action in the annual Crush Cancer game on Tuesday, April 8^th at Red Murff Field in Belton. The Cru will face off against Schreiner University in a 6 p.m. first pitch.