Austin, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team could not capitalize on some early opportunities as the Cru dropped a 7-1 decision to Concordia Texas Friday night in Austin. The loss drops UMHB to 18-19 overall and 15-13 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. The 8th-ranked Tornados improve to 28-9 overall and 22-5 in the ASC on the year with the win.
UMHB grabbed a 1-0 lead on K.J. Stark's RBI groundout in the top of the second inning. The Cru had chances to build a bigger lead but left the bases loaded in the first and third innings. UMHB also left two runners on in the second and fifth frames. The Tornados tied the game on a Luke Kress RBI single in the bottom of that inning. Michael Evan singled home two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to give Concordia a 3-1 lead. Cameron Cox's pinch-hit RBI single stretched the Tornado lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Evan tacked on an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, Connor Bertsch had a sacrifice fly and Evan scored on a wild pitch to push it to 7-1. Stark led off the top of the ninth with a walk and advanced to third, but that's as close as the Cru would cut to cutting into the lead.
Dakota Parsons, Rob Loewe, Justin Dingman and Seth Martin had two hits apiece as UMHB out hit the Tornados 12-10 in the game. Casey Frazier took the loss for the Cru to drop to 1-2 on the year after giving up seven hits and three runs in six innings of work. Evan had four of Concordia's ten hits in the game. Ragan Pope earned the win for the Tornados to improve to 5-2 on the year and Justin Traxler earned his fifth save of the season.
The two teams will close out the regular season with a 1:00 PM doubleheader Saturday in Austin. Both teams have already clinched berths in the ASC Championship Tournament. The ASC Tournament bracket should be announced Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. The event starts next Wednesday and will be hosted by Concordia Texas.