BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team dropped an 8-3 decision in game two of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps series Saturday afternoon.

Starting pitcher Alex Hill opened the matchup with three straight strikeouts to get out of the inning scoreless. Riley Bender found the grass in the outfield with a single in the bottom of the first. The Stags added a run in the second inning, but the Cru responded with a two-run fourth. Cameron Talburt started the action with a double down the left field line, followed by another single from Bender to advance Talburt to third. Taylor McDaniel went up to the plate after, putting up a double to score both runners, putting UMHB up 2-1.

The Stags answered in the top of the fifth with a two-run home run to take the 3-2 lead. CMS added two more runs in the seventh to extend the lead to 5-2. Riley Bender hit a sacrifice infield hit in the eighth inning to score Cameron Talburt, earning a run back to make it a 5-3 game in the Stags' favor. CMS responded with a three-run ninth inning, extending the differential to 8-3, taking the victory.

Riley Bender went 2-3 with an RBI and one run scored. Cameron Talburt scored two runs, while Taylor McDaniel added two RBI.

Alex Hill had the start on the mound, pitching six complete innings, adding 10 strikeouts. Jacob Haynes relieved Hill, going 2.0 innings, followed by Caleb Kennedy, who closed out the matchup in the ninth.

UMHB returns to action on Sunday, February 8th, at Red Murff Field in the final game of the series against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 12:00pm.