Clarksville, Arkansas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team rallied from an early deficit, but could not hold on in the ninth inning as the Cru lost a 5-4 decision to the University of the Ozarks Saturday afternoon in Arkansas. UMHB drops to 9-8 overall and 7-5 in American Southwest Conference play on the year with the loss. The Eagles move to 6-14 overall and 3-10 in the ASC on the season with the victory.
Ozarks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Eagles bunched five hits and a passed ball to score the runs, but UMHB pitcher Kreece Cooper struck two of the last four batters of the inning to leave the bases loaded. Ozarks also left runners at second and third in the third inning and first and third in the fourth inning. UMHB took advantage of a run-scoring error to cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth and Heath Spencer's RBI groundout closed the gap to 3-2 in the top of the seventh. Rob Loewe gave the Cru its first lead of the day with a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning, but UMHB left the bases loaded in the bid to stretch the lead. Ozarks tied things up 4-4 when a run scored on an inning-ending rundown in the bottom of the eighth. Loewe's bloop was dropped for an error in the top of the ninth inning, but Dakota Parsons was thrown out at the plate trying to score the go-ahead run, leaving it a 4-4 game going into the bottom of the ninth. Andrew Beck led off with a double and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt, He then beat the throw home on Jacob Smith's sacrifice fly with the game-winning run.
K.J. Stark took the loss for UMHB to fall to 0-1 on the season. Cooper struck out seven and allowed just one earned run in five innings as the Cru starter. Parsons and Chase Burrow had two hits apiece for UMHB. Alex Rodriguez earned the win for Ozarks to move to 3-2. Sam Shook, Dean Igert and Alex Smith had two hits each to lead the Eagles' 11-hit attack.
The Cru will continue its road trip with a 6:00 PM non-conference game at Southwestern University Tuesday in Georgetown. UMHB will then host Louisiana College for a three-game ASC series next weekend at Red Murff Field.