MARSHALL, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team fell in the American Southwest Conference Semifinals Saturday in Marshall, dropping decisions to East Texas Baptist and Hardin-Simmons to cap the year.
Chris Perez opened game one with a three-RBI home run to left field, scoring
Landon Pyles and
Tyler Martin for a three-run lead. The Tigers responded in the fifth, scoring one run off a sacrifice fly from Carson Livesay and two more on a single from Joaquin Costa.
Tyler Martin answered for the Cru, scoring
Taylor McDaniel with a sacrifice fly to right field before Carter Nannini mirrored for the Tigers in the seventh, putting ETBU back on top. East Texas Baptist held the one-run lead until the top of the ninth when
Riley Bender homered to knot the game at five. Nannini struck again in the ninth, hitting the walk-off single to score Livesay for the 6-5 win.
Bender and McDaniel led the Cru with two hits each while Perez had a team-high three RBI.
Mason Semmelmann took the loss on the mound, giving up the game-winner in the ninth.
Alex Hill earned the start, throwing 6.1 innings with five runs and six hits allowed while
Jacob Haynes added 1.1 shutout frames. UMHB totaled five runs on seven hits with one error while the Tigers had six runs on seven hits.
Hardin-Simmons took a two-run first-inning lead in the second game but the Cru answered with a two-RBI triple from
Cameron Talburt in the second, knotting the contest at two.
Easton Cline followed that with a bases-loaded walk, scoring Talburt on the field pitch before
Tyler Martin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Cline for a 4-2 lead.
Taylor McDaniel added one more run off a bases-loaded walk earned by
Landon Pyles, sending the game to the bottom of the third with a 5-2 UMHB lead.
The Cowboys added two more runs in the third inning to cut the gap to one.
Riley Bender hit a solo home run in the fifth, putting the Cru up by two before Gavin Brunig mirrored with a home run in the bottom of the frame, cutting the gap back down to one. Benji Fielder later singled, scoring Justin Blancaflor for a 6-6 knot after five.
That tie held until the eighth inning when Bender hit another home run, giving the Cru a one-run lead. Catcher Ridings hit in another run for the Cowboys later in that inning, scoring Hunter Trojacek for a 7-7 knot. The Cowboys put the game away in the bottom of the ninth, scoring Blancaflor on a play at the plate off a single from Fielder, sealing the 8-7 HSU win.
Talburt, Bender and
Jasson Hemmerling, Jr. each tallied two hits while
Chris Perez added one. Bender also had a team-high two runs with he and Talburt adding two RBI each.
Cole Morkovsky earned the start on the mound, throwing 2.1 innings with six hits and four runs allowed.
Caleb Kennedy added 1.2 shutout innings while
Reid Davis and
Ryland Anders also pitched in relief. UMHB had seven runs on seven hits while the Cowboys had eight runs on 15 hits.
UMHB ends the season at 25-18 overall. Hardin-Simmons advances to the ASC Championship on Sunday, May 3rd.
