Abilene, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team saw another early lead slip away in the final innings as the Cru lost to McMurry University 8-5 in the finale of a three-game series Sunday in Abilene. UMHB falls to 10-17 overall and 5-10 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The Warhawks improve to 13-14 overall and 7-5 in the ASC with the victory.
McMurry grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before UMHB answered with two runs in the top of the third inning. Will Stafford singled home the first run and scored on a Dakota Parsons’ groundout to give the Cru a 2-1 lead. The Cru added two runs on Ty Johnson’s two-run single in the top of the sixth inning for a 4-1 lead. McMurry tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Warhawks bunched three hits with a Cru error in the bottom of the seventh to grab a 6-4 lead and added two more runs Chris Baker’s two-run double in the bottom of the eighth for an 8-4 edge. Parsons scored on a McMurry error in the top of the ninth to cut the gap to 8-5, but UMHB left the bases loaded in the inning as the rally fell short.
Max Conway had three hits for the Cru and Parsons and Cody Stone added two hits apiece. Nathan Kent took the loss to drop to 2-2 on the season for UMHB. Three different players had three hits apiece to key McMurry’s 16-hit attack. Tyler Jenkins earned the win for the Warhawks to improve to 2-1 and Juan Valadez notched his fifth save of the year.
The Cru will now return home to host Hardin-Simmons University for a three-game conference series next weekend. The two teams will open the series with a 7:00 PM single game on Friday before closing out the weekend with a 12:00 PM doubleheader on Saturday at Red Murff Field.
