Photo by Bob Sanford
BROWNWOOD, Texas–Winning big at home is one thing. Winning three of four in the span of a week on the road is another, especially early in the season.
But that’s just what the UMHB baseball team did within the last week, starting things off with a 15-3 win at St. Thomas in Houston on Tuesday, before following up with a second-straight American Southwest Conference series win over Howard Payne on Friday and Saturday.
UMHB’s 9-1 record is still the best overall winning percentage in the ASC, and at 5-1 in league play, The Cru has the most conference wins of any team in the ASC. ETBU, at 3-0, is currently in first place in the league standings, followed closely by UMHB in second.
This also marks the second-best start to a season in the program’s Division III history. 2008 was the last time UMHB opened a season with nine straight victories.
Game one on Friday saw UMHB jump out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning, and the bats continued producing into the fourth, as the Crusaders went up 6-0. HPU cut into the UMHB lead with a pair of runs in the fifth, but that was as close as the Yellow Jackets came.
The Cru bullpen took over from there, as Quint Mullen and Jacob Haynes each fired two innings of scoreless relief. Starter Andrew Acierni earned his third win of the year, as he tossed five innings, giving up seven hits and two runs while striking out four.
Leadoff hitter Tyler Betts was 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI, as the Round Rock native accounted for three of UMHB’s seven hits.
A dominant game two victory on Saturday afternoon gave UMHB the series win, as the 13-1 result saw the Crusaders tally 15 hits in the seven-inning contest. The Cru pushed across a run in both the first and second innings, and then exploded in a four-run fifth.
In that fifth inning, Carson Hagan led off with a double, which was followed immediately by back-to-back singles from Rhett Grosz and Riley Bender. Two HPU errors in the inning contributed as well, leading to both Grosz and Bender crossing the plate. And Kaden deBerardinis added the statement finish to the frame, stealing home as UMHB executed a “double steal” with Betts at the plate. Easton Cline broke for second base and deBerardinis took off for home, scoring The Cru’s fourth run of the inning.
A five-run sixth for UMHB put the game well out of reach, as 11 of the Crusaders’ 13 runs came in the final three innings.
Starter Rahul Champaneri went 6.1 innings in his third straight win, and despite allowing eight hits, gave up just one run, while striking out four.
Saturday’s second game—and the series finale—was a back-and-forth duel down the stretch, as Howard Payne won, 10-9, on a 12th-inning walk-off single. The one-sided win earlier in the afternoon gave UMHB more depth out of the bullpen, but in the final game of a weekend series, a 12-inning contest challenges even the deepest of pitching staffs. The Crusaders used five pitchers in the game, four over the final 6.1 innings, as HPU stole a home victory.
UMHB got out to a 7-0 lead by the third inning, thanks to a six-run third that was highlighted by Elijah Rodriguez’s single to left center field that drove in deBerardinis and Bender from second and third, respectively. It was a key RBI single, as UMHB’s lead swelled to 5-0. Blake Gonzalez’s sacrifice groundout and a single from Betts extended the score to 7-0, but HPU soon made it interesting.
Five unanswered runs from the Yellow Jackets over the next three innings cut the deficit to two. UMHB tacked on one more run in the sixth, as Hagan scored on a bunt from deBerardinis. But then three more unanswered runs, including a clutch RBI single from Kayden Kelley with two outs in the bottom of the ninth that tied the score at eight apiece and sent the contest into extras.
Two scoreless innings were followed by UMHB taking back its lead in the top of the 12th, thanks to Hagan’s RBI single up the middle that scored Drake Herrera. But HPU pushed two across in the bottom half, initially loading the bases with one out before Derek Gifford knotted the score once again with an RBI single of his own. UMHB intentionally walked Tanner Benson in order to face Jackson Earle, but he proved to be the hero, driving in Grant Pfaff from third base for the walk-off win.
Game Notes
- Saturday’s third game marked UMHB’s second extra-inning contest of the season, as The Cru’s second game of the year, an 8-7 win over Austin College, went into eight innings after having been a scheduled seven-inning contest. UMHB is now 1-1 in extra-inning games this season.
- UMHB tallied two triples in both the first and second games of the series against HPU. It marks the only two times UMHB has tallied multiple triples in a game this season, and was the most triples in a single game for The Cru since they tallied three in a March 17, 2023 win over McMurry.
- Hagan produced one of the top individual performances of the series, going 4-for-7 at the plate, with four runs scored and an RBI.
- Grosz, Betts, deBerardinis, Hagan, Gonzalez, and Bender each hit safely in all three games of the series.
- Dating back to 1999, UMHB is now 43-34 against HPU. The Cru has won each of the last two series against the Yellowjackets played in Brownwood, and is an even 20-20 overall in games played at HPU.
- Grosz’s 20 hits this season are tied for fourth-best in the country, as he is hitting .488. His five doubles are also tied for fifth-most in the nation.
Up Next
UMHB makes a trip south to San Antonio for a non-conference matchup at Trinity (5-2) at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday night. The Cru is looking to beat Trinity in San Antonio for the second straight season.
