Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team completed a weekend sweep of Sul Ross State by taking a doubleheader from the Lobos Saturday afternoon in Belton. UMHB won game one 6-1 and took game two by a 7-3 score to improve to 5-6 overall and 5-4 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. Sul Ross drops to 5-11 overall and 1-5 in the ASC on the year with the two losses.
The Cru used Seth Hill's solid pitching and some timely hitting to post a 6-1 victory in game one. Rob Loewe's RBI single made it 1-0 Cru in the bottom of the first and K.J. Stark singled home a run in the bottom of the second pushed it to 2-1. The Lobos cut the gap to 2-1 in the top of the third, but Stark answered with another RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. UMHB then put three on the board in the bottom of the sixth for some breathing room. Riley Davis scored on an error, Stark doubled home a run and Loewe singled home Stark with the final run. Hill tossed a complete-game, two-hitter to even his record at 1-1. He struck out five and walked two. Stark and Loewe had three hits apiece and combined to drive in five runs. Davis had two hits and scored twice. Eli Gallego took the loss for the Lobos to drop to 2-2. Josh Vasquez had both of the Sul Ross hits in the game.
UMHB broke open a tight game with a three-run sixth inning and cruised to a 7-3 win in game two. Zack Whiddon's sacrifice fly gave the Cru a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Stark singled home two runs in the bottom of the second to push it to 3-0. The Lobos cut the gap to 3-2 with single runs in the third and fifth before UMHB put three on the board in the sixth. Davis had an RBI fielder's choice and another run scored on an error before Will Stafford singled home the final run of the inning. The Lobos scored a run in the top of the eighth, but the Cru added Heath Spencer's RBI double in the bottom of the eighth to provide the final margin. Kreece Cooper struck out 10 batters and scattered four hits over five innings to even his record at 1-1. Justin Dingman had two of UMHB's seven hits. Four Cru pitchers combined to strike out 15 Lobos in the contest. Ryan Todd took the loss for Sul Ross and Gallego and Shane Sawyer had two hits each in the loss.
The Cru will continue its home stand with a 6:00 PM non-conference game against Southwestern University on Tuesday. UMHB will then travel to Abilene to take on McMurry University in a pair of non-conference games this weekend.