'Roo Baseball Splits with UMHB

SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College baseball team split its twinbill with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday, taking game one 3-2 before falling 8-1 in game two. The 'Roos are now 4-3 overall on the year.

Game one saw the 'Roos and Crusaders engage in a pitching battle, with neither team mustering much offense through the first three innings. Mary Hardin-Baylor put one run across in the top of the fourth, but Austin College answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Logan Ballard and Branson Vrazel both drove in runs in the inning to help the 'Roos grab the lead.

The score would remain 3-1 until the top of the seventh, when the Crusaders pushed one more run across to cut it to a one run game, but Ryan Culp shut the door on UMHB to earn the complete game victory. Culp surrendered two runs, only one earned, on five hits in the win. Austin College collected just three hits, with Vrazel, Zack Mahoney, and Jake Webster each singling in the game.

In game two, the Crusaders put four runs across in the top of the first and never looked back, adding another run in the second to make it a 5-0 game. Another run came home in the third, and the margin grew to 7-0 in the top of the fifth before Austin College got on the board when Ryan Padfield came home to make it 7-1. The Crusaders would get one more run in the sixth to make it 8-1, and Austin College was unable to counter.

Jake Thomas absorbed the loss, giving up seven runs - five earned - on 10 hits in 5.0 innings of work. Mahoney and Brandon Evans paced Austin College at the plate, each collecting two hits in the defeat.