ABILENE, Texas — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team went 1-1 against Hardin-Simmons Friday afternoon. This split moved the Cru's record to 24-15 on the season with a 5-6 mark in league action, while the Cowboys moved to 23-14 (6-5).
Jacob Newland opened the scoring in game one with an RBI double to left center, scoring Riley Bender, who reached on a double of his own to get the Cru out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Hardin-Simmons took over the game in the third, scoring eight runs on seven hits. The Cowboys plated one more run in the sixth, taking the game 9-1.
Riley Bender led the Cru with two hits in three at-bats, scoring one run.
The Cowboys jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning of game two, scoring two on three hits. Bender answered in the top of the fourth with a solo home run to cut the deficit in half. The Cru knotted the game at two in the sixth inning when Bender added an RBI single to score Easton Cline. HSU got two back in the bottom of the frame, taking a 4-2 upper hand.
After two free bases and a Tyler Betts infield single in the seventh, Cameron Talburt drew a walk to score Jasson Hemmerling, Jr. Easton Cline followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Perez, tying the game again at 4-4. Taylor McDaniel gave the Cru the lead with a two-RBI double, later scoring on a Nolan Williams RBI single to move the score to 7-4. HSU scored one in the bottom of the frame before Cline hit a two-RBI double in the eighth, extending UMHB's lead and securing the 9-5 victory.
Easton Cline added three hits in four at-bats with three RBI and one run scored. Bender went three-for-five with a home run, two RBI, and a run scored.
UMHB returns to action in Abilene on Saturday, April 25th, in a 12:00pm matchup to close out the Hardin-Simmons series.
