Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Photo Gallery
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team jumped out to an early lead and then stretched it out from there for a game two victory and a split of a doubleheader with U.T.-Dallas Saturday afternoon in Belton. The Cru won game two 12-4 after dropping a 14-10 decision in game one. UMHB is now 8-6 on the season. UTD moves to 8-4 on the year.
In game two, the Cru rode the hot hitting of Joseph Villegas and the solid pitching of Chance Ryan to a 12-4 victory. Villegas singled home a run in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0 Cru. Villegas singled home another run in the third and scored on Chris Joshlin’s RBI double to give UMHB a 3-0 lead. The Cru added three runs in the fourth on Kyle Flynn’s RBI groundout and RBI singles from Alfredo Melendez and Andrew White. Ryan Moreau doubled home Villegas and Josh Fredrick added an RBI triple in the fifth as UMHB stretched the lead to 8-0. UTD cut it to 8-2 with single runs in the sixth and seventh. Joshlin doubled home Villegas again in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-2 and after the Comets pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, White added an RBI single and Villegas closed out the scoring with a monster two-run home run to right field to give the Cru a 12-4 lead. David Keil set the Comets down in order in the top of the ninth to nail down the win. Villegas went 5-5 with four RBI and four runs scored. He also tied the UMHB career doubles record held by Matt Pullen with a fifth-inning double. Melendez, White and Joshlin added two hits apiece. Ryan scattered six hits and allowed just one earned run over seven innings of work to improve to 2-0. He struck out six and walked just one. Jonathan Reeder took the loss for UTD.
The Cru let an early lead slip away and then saw its furious late inning comeback fall short in a 14-10 loss in game one. UTD took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second before the Cru scored three in the bottom of the third. Melendez singled home the first run and then was part of a double steal with Kyle Flynn stealing home to make it 2-1. Melendez went to third on the play and scored on White’s sacrifice fly. UTD answered with three in fourth, highlighted by Joseph Killgore’s two-run double. Drew Hallford’s two-run homer in the fifth make it 6-3 and the Comets added five runs in the sixth to take an 11-3 lead. UMHB posted a five-spot of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Seth Lynn had an RBI double, Flynn added an RBI single and Fredrick and Villegas added sacrifice flies. UMHB also scored a run on a wild pitch. Jacob Starnes’ two-run single was the biggest blow in a three-run Comet seventh inning and UTD opened the lead to 14-8. Fredrick doubled home a run and scored on Ryan Swindell’s groundout to cut the lead to 14-10 in the bottom of the seventh, but that’s as close as the Cru could get. Melendez, Lynn, Flynn and Swindell all had two hits apiece and Villegas hit the 17th triple of his career to break the ASC career triple mark of 16 previously held by McMurry’s Albert Carrizales. Cameron Arnett took the loss for UMHB to drop to 2-3 on the year. Mason Thompson earned the win for UTD to move to 3-0. Starnes, Hallford and Larry Bolding had three apiece for the Comets.
The Cru will now host Robert Morris for a 2:00 PM single game on Tuesday before traveling to Abilene to face Marietta College in a 1:00 PM start on Wednesday. UMHB will open American Southwest Conference West Division play with a three-game weekend series at Hardin-Simmons University next weekend in Abilene.