Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team broke open a close game with a six-run fifth inning and the Cru rolled to an 8-0 victory over Mississippi College Saturday in Belton. UMHB improves to 13-2 overall and 10-2 in American Southwest Conference play after completing a series sweep of the Choctaws. The loss drops Mississippi College to 5-11 overall and 4-8 in the ASC on the year.

The Cru grabbed a 1-0 lead on Zack Whiddon's RBI groundout in the bottom of the third inning. Cole Hill singled home a run to make it 2-0 UMHB in the bottom of the fourth before the Cru erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fifth. Rob Loewe's RBI single started the scoring, Tripp Reeves added an RBI double and Hill and Will Stafford both plated two runs with base hits later in the inning. That would be more than enough offense for Cru starting pitcher Jordan Mattke. Mattke threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout to improve to 2-0. He struck out six and walked just one. Hill, Stafford and Loewe all had two hits apiece as the Cru put together ten hits in the victory.

UMHB is off to the school's best start since the 1999 team also started the year 13-2. The Cru will play a non-conference game at Trinity University Tuesday night at 7:00 PM in San Antonio. UMHB will then host University of the Ozarks for a three-game ASC series next weekend.