MARSHALL, Texas — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team dropped two games to East Texas Baptist Friday afternoon. This moves the Cru's record to 23-13 with a 4-4 mark in conference, while the Tigers improve to 26-10 on the season with an 8-0 record in league action.
The Tigers scored one run in the first and second innings to get out to an early 2-0 lead. Nolan Williams led off the fifth inning with a solo home run to get the Cru on the board 2-1. ETBU answered right away, plating one more in the bottom of the frame to get the two-run lead back. In the sixth inning, Tyler Martin hit a lead-off double, later scoring on a Cameron Talburt two-run home run to tie the game at three.
The Tigers regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, scoring two runs on two hits. ETBU later added four runs in the seventh, along with three in the eighth to extend the lead 12-3. The Cru got one back in the ninth, dropping game three of the series 12-4.
Nolan Williams and Cameron Talburt each added a home run and two RBI in game one. Taylor McDaniel went two-for-three at the plate with a double.
The Cru got on the board first in game two, taking a 1-0 lead in the first, off a Nolan Williams RBI to score Talburt. UMHB extended the deficit in the top of the second when Talburt hit a two-RBI triple, pushing Tyler Martin and Jasson Hemmerling, Jr. across the plate. The Tigers got two back in the bottom of the frame, cutting the Cru's lead to one.
Chris Perez led off the fourth inning with a double, later scoring on a sacrifice fly from Martin to take the score to 4-2. The Tigers knotted the match up at four with a two-run home run, followed by an 11-run inning for ETBU that put the Tigers up 13-4. UMHB got one back in the sixth when Perez hit a solo home run. ETBU hung three more runs in the sixth, going up 16-5. The Cru plated one run on an RBI walk before Riley Bender hit a grand slam over the left field wall to put UMHB in the double digits. Talburt and McDaniel added an RBI each in the eighth, moving the score to 16-12. Bender added his second home run of the game in the ninth, but the Cru stopped there, taking the 16-13 loss.
Riley Bender went two-for-five with five RBI and two home runs. Chris Perez added a home run and a double with one RBI and two runs scored, alongside Tyler Martin, who also tallied two hits.
UMHB returns to action in Abilene on Thursday, April 23rd, in a 6:00pm contest against Hardin-Simmons.
