The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team used solid pitching and timely hitting in both games to sweep a doubleheader from LeTourneau University Saturday in Belton. The Cru won game one 4-2 and took game two 7-5. UMHB is now 8-12 overall and 5-4 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. LeTourneau is 12-10 overall and 5-4 in the ASC on the year.
The Cru won game one 4-2 after putting three on the board in the bottom of the second. Sam Wheatley scored the first run on an error and Malek Bolin singled home the second run. Braden Letney's ground rule RBI double made it 3-0 UMHB. The Cru tacked on an insurance run on Bolin's RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. LeTourneau cut it to 4-2 on RBI singles from Eli Birriel and Lee Hosie in the top of the fifth. The Yellowjackets would put two runners on in the top of the seventh, but Connor Heussner worked out of it for his first save of the season. Andrew Hutchings (1-2) picked up the win with three and two-thirds innings of four-hit relief work. Wheatley and Bolin had two hits apiece for UMHB. Andrew Harlan took the loss for LeTourneau to drop to 1-2 on the year. Carson Dickey had two of the Yellowjackets six hits in the game.
UMHB scored in each of the first three innings and then held on for a 7-5 game two victory. Mark Frankhouser opened the scoring with a two-run home run and Wheatley added an RBI ground out to make it 3-0 after one. Frankhouser added an RBI single in the second and Bolin singled home a run in the third to give the Cru a 5-0 lead. LeTourneau cut it to 5-2 in the top of the sixth and added a run in the seventh to make it 5-3. Letney's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh stretched it to 6-3. The two teams traded runs in the eighth when Dakota Best singling home a run to make it 7-4 going into the ninth inning. Jacob Jones hit a solo homer to cut it to 7-5 and the Yellowjackets put two runners on base, but Jackson Godoy struck out the final batter to preserve the win and nail down his first save of the year. Harrison Sims (1-1) earned the win with five and two-thirds innings of five-hit pitching in his first collegiate start. Best, Austin Blanford and Mitch Patterson had three hits apiece for the Cru. Nate Hoelker took the loss for LeTourneau to drop to 3-1. Hosie had three of the Yellowjackets ten hits in the game.
The Cru will continue its home stand with a 6:00 PM non-conference game against University of Chicago on Tuesday. UMHB will then travel to Arkansas to take on University of the Ozarks in a three-game ASC series next weekend.
