Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team bounced back for a game two win as the Cru salvaged a doubleheader split with Howard Payne University Saturday afternoon in Belton. UMHB took game two 7-0 after falling 4-2 in game one. The Cru is now 1-3 overall and 1-2 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. Howard Payne moves to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the ASC following the split.

UMHB put two or more runs on the board in three different innings and used solid pitching to post a 7-0 victory in game two. Zack Whiddon's RBI fielder's choice opened the scoring in the bottom of the third and the Cru added a run on an HPU error. Justin Dingman doubled home two runs in the fifth to give UMHB a 4-0 cushion and Will Stafford singled home two runs and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth to push the lead to the final margin. Aaron Barteau struck out 10 and scattered three hits in six scoreless innings to raise his record to 1-0. Dingman and Rob Loewe had two hits apiece for UMHB. Jacob Spivey took the loss for the Yellow Jackets to drop to 0-1 and Brandon Garrett had three of HPU's four hits in the game.

UMHB could not overcome Howard Payne's four-run third inning in a 4-2 game one loss. John Elmore singled home the first two runs, Dustin DeJohn singled home the third and the final run scored on a throwing error. The Cru put a run on the board on an HPU throwing error in the bottom of that inning and Whiddon's solo homer cut the gap to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth. UMHB put two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but could not push across a run. Seth Hill took the loss for the Cru to drop to 0-1. Shae Edmonds threw a complete-game, five-hitter for the Yellow Jackets to move to 1-0. Will Stafford had two of UMHB's five hits in the contest.

The Cru is scheduled to return to action with a non-conference game at Trinity University Tuesday night in San Antonio. UMHB will then play a three-game conference series at U.T.-Tyler next weekend.