Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team overcame a five-run first inning with a late rally and the Cru knocked off Trinity University 9-7 Tuesday night in Belton. The winner in the home opener moves UMHB to 2-5 on the season. The defending national champion Tigers fall to 6-6 on the year with the loss.
Trinity grabbed a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning as the Tigers rapped out five hits and took advantage of a costly UMHB error. The Cru got a run back on Mitch Patterson's RBI single in the bottom of the first. Trinity added a run off another UMHB error to make it 6-1 in the top of the third, but the Cru put three on the board in the bottom of the fourth frame. Robbie Gillen tripled home two runs and then scored on a balk to cut it to 6-4. Jake Martin's RBI double in the top of the sixth pushed the lead to 7-4, but UMHB again answered with two tallies in the bottom of the sixth. Jackson Godoy scored on a throwing error and Landon Dieterich singled home Gillen to make it a 7-6 game. The Cru then put up two runs in the seventh to grab the lead. Godoy doubled home the tying run, but UMHB had the potential tying run thrown out at the plate. Caleb Davis followed with an RBI triple to give the Cru an 8-7 lead. Austin Blanford's RBI single in the bottom of the eighth gave UMHB an insurance run. Aaron Barteau surrendered a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, but struck out the next three batters to preserve the win. He tied Sam VanHoozer's Cru Division III era career record for saves in the process.
Seth Hill (1-0) picked up the win for UMHB with two innings of one-hit relief. Barteau notched his second save of the year. Andrew Hoffman took the loss for Trinity to drop to 0-2 on the season. Gillen, Godoy and Mark Frankhouser had two hits apiece for the Cru. Michael Davis had three hits for Trinity and three other players added two hits apiece. The Tigers out hit UMHB 11-10, but made five errors in the loss.
UMHB will now hit the road to open American Southwest Conference play this weekend. The Cru will take on Hardin-Simmons University in a three-game series in Abilene. That series opens with a 7:00 PM single game on Friday night.