BELTON, Texas — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team completed a three-game sweep over North Central College Friday in Belton, earning 15-14 and 9-4 wins over North Central College. The wins improved the Cru to 12-5 on the season while the Cardinals fell to 1-4.
 
After the Cardinals opened the game with a three-run first inning, the Cru answered with five runs in the bottom of the frame. Cameron Talburt led off with a first-pitch solo homerun. The next four Crusaders in the lineup followed with a single each, giving UMHB a 5-3 lead. North Central got four back in the second on three hits, regaining the lead 7-5. Talburt added another lead-off home run in the second to move the score to 7-6. The Cardinals added three more in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the frame, Tyler Betts opened with a single to center, followed by an Easton Cline walk, before Riley Bender shot a three-run home run over the right field fence to bring the Cru within one. UMHB took the 12-10 lead to end the fourth.
 
The Cardinals added two in the fifth and sixth innings, taking the 14-12 upper hand. In the bottom of the seventh, Easton Cline added an RBI single to score Austin Birkhoff who doubled earlier in the inning to cut the Cardinals' deficit to one. Taylor McDaniel knotted the game at 14 in the eighth with a lead-off solo home run. Later in the inning, Cameron Talburt earned a free RBI on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded to bring in Nolan Williams, sealing the Cru's 15-14 victory.
Taylor McDaniel went three-for-three at the plate with two RBI and three runs scored. Cameron Talburt had three RBI off two home runs and a walk. Riley Bender, Easton Cline, and Nolan Williams added multiple hits each. UMHB threw a quad of pitchers with Mason Semmelmann earning the win on the mound.
 
After two scoreless innings in game two, the Cru got on the board with a Riley Bender sacrifice fly to score Easton Cline, who reached previously on a single to left. The Cardinals answered in the top of the fourth with one run to tie it up. Braden Fuentes opened the fourth inning with a triple, scoring on a Jacob Newland RBI double to take the lead. Tyler Martin followed with a single to left field to score Newland, later scoring on a sacrifice fly from Riley Bender to end the inning with the Cru up 4-1.
 
UMHB added three more in the bottom of the fifth off hits from Jacob Newland and Cameron Talburt, followed by a two-run homerun from Braden Fuentes in the sixth to take the Cru up 9-1. The Cardinals tacked on two more runs in the seventh and one in the ninth for a 9-4 victory.
 
Williams, Fuentes and Newland each recorded a team-high two hits and two runs with Fuentes and Newland both adding two RBI. Reid Davis threw 6.1innings on the mound, giving up one run on five hits with four strikeouts. Ryland Anders and Michael Doucet both pitched in relief, each giving up one earned run.
 
UMHB returns to action on Tuesday, March 10th in a 1:00pm matchup against Schreiner University in Kerrville.