Richardson, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team kept the games close in the early going only to see U.T.-Dallas break both games open in the latter innings as the Cru dropped both games of a doubleheader to the Comets Friday afternoon in Richardson. UMHB lost game one 11-3 and fell by a 16-9 count in game two. The Cru is now 13-12 overall and 10-8 in American Southwest Conference play on the season following the two losses. UTD improves to 14-13 overall and 11-7 in the ASC on the year with the two wins.
The Comets used a pair of four run innings to break open a tie game on the way to the 11-3 win in game one. Rob Loewe's RBI double gave the Cru a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The Comets would answer with three runs in the bottom of the second. Chase Burrow had a sacrifice fly and Tripp Reeves added an RBI single to tie it up at 3-3 in the top of the third. UTD took advantage of two hits, four walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch to put four on the board in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-3 lead. The Comets added four more in the bottom of the sixth to stretch it out to the final margin. Jon Franz took the loss for UMHB to drop to 1-1 on the season. Brandon Lee threw a complete-game, 0-hitter for UTD to raise his record to 3-2. Reeves and Dakota Parsons had two hits apiece for the Cru, but UMHB pitchers combined to walk ten batters in the loss.
The Cru could not overcome UTD's six-run sixth inning as a late comeback bid fell short in a 16-9 game two loss. Burrow's RBI triple put UMHB up 1-0 in the top of the first, but UTD put three up in the bottom of that frame. Will Stafford's RBI double pulled the Cru to within 3-2 in the top of the second and K.J. Stark's two-run homer gave UMHB a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth. UTD hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to retake the lead and then added six more in the bottom of the sixth to grab an 11-4 advantage. UMHB rallied with a four-run eighth on Stafford's RBI double, Stark's sacrifice fly and Parsons' two-run homer. The Comets hit two more homers as part of a five-run bottom of the eighth and UMHB posted the final run on a run-scoring error in the top of the ninth. Stark had three hits and three RBI for the Cru and Parsons, Loewe, Stafford and Zack Whiddon added two hits each. Kreece Cooper took the loss to fall to 1-3 on the season for UMHB as Cru pitchers surrendered four homers in the game. Michael Ward earned the win for UTD to move to 1-0 and Brandon Clounch had two home runs and five RBI to pace the Comet offense in the game.
The Cru will now return home to host a four-game home stand next week at Red Murff Field. UMHB will host Texas Lutheran for a 7:00 PM non-conference game next Tuesday before hosting Hardin-Simmons University for a three-game conference series on Friday and Saturday.