Series Recap: No. 20 UMHB baseball split Saturday’s doubleheader with No. 5 ETBU, but did not come away satisfied

BELTON, Texas–If put in UMHB’s position, plenty of teams would have walked away from Saturday’s doubleheader split against ETBU feeling accomplished.

After all, a victory over the No. 5 team in the country doesn’t come everyday. Especially not when that win—in this case a 2-1 result for The Cru over the Tigers—came against Sayers Collins, considered by many to be the top starting pitcher in Division III. Entering the contest, the nation had just five pitchers who had not yet allowed a run this season. And of those, Collins was the only one who had thrown 20 innings or more. 

But the Crusaders, while proud of the game two performance, had a sense of disappointment on their faces as they headed towards left field for their usual postgame team meeting. ETBU clinched the series win with a 3-0 shutout in the series finale, getting a game-sealing ground ball out at second base in the ninth inning. 

“We just split with the No. 5 team in the country and beat what I think is the best pitcher in the country,” UMHB head coach Mike Stawski said. “Our guys are pretty upset about that. I think any team in this conference, up and down, if they would’ve split today with a win over Sayers, might be going, ‘Heck yeah, let’s get on the bus, get some food, this is a great day for us.’ And our guys are walking away going, ‘Man, that just isn’t good enough.’”

Even at this point in the year, preseason expectations have been exceeded. The Cru, ranked No. 20 in the nation, came away from the series with a 16-6 record and an 8-4 mark in ASC play. Not bad for a team picked to finish sixth in the conference’s preseason poll. 

A year ago, the series between UMHB and ETBU was one-sided, very much in favor of the Tigers. They outscored the visitors from Belton 38-10 over the three-game sweep. 

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, and UMHB won a pitcher’s duel against the Tigers’ ace followed by a narrow defeat that was 1-0 through five innings and saw UMHB load the bases with the game-winning run at the plate. 

“We don’t have to talk our guys into raising the standard,” Stawski noted. 

It was a tough weekend at the plate to say the least. Entering the series, UMHB had not been shutout even once in 19 contests. ETBU blanked The Cru twice in three meetings. Entering the series, The Cru had never tallied fewer than six hits in a game. Twice, the Tigers held them below that threshold, including a one-hitter in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. 

“The offensive side obviously didn’t show up this weekend, but a lot of credit goes to ETBU’s pitchers,” Stawski said. “Man, did they throw the ball well. They had a really good game plan and they executed. Their staff was firing on all cylinders.” 

Yet, there were some bright moments, including Carson Hagan’s go-ahead homer over the left field wall in the third inning of game two of the series. Ironically, UMHB’s lone win came in the game when hit production was lowest, with Hagan’s home run ending up as The Cru’s only hit in the seven-inning matchup. 

“I don’t know if that’s ever happened in my career where we’ve gotten one hit and actually won a game,” Stawski said. 

It is rare indeed. In a game where UMHB put just three runners on base, Hagan came through at the perfect time against Collins, whose consistency is one of his biggest strengths. Hagan stepped to the plate with two outs and Tyler Betts standing on first, and connected on the 3-2 pitch with seemingly perfect timing. ETBU pushed one run across in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Connor Massimini but the Tigers were held scoreless otherwise. Rahul Champaneri earned the win for UMHB, going six innings with just four hits and one walk.

“When you make enough pitches like we did, keep the game close, and play defense like we did, sometimes, unfortunately, it comes down to one play,” Stawski said. “We say every pitch is a play. Sometimes there are 400 plays in a game. Usually one play doesn’t make a difference, but in that first game today, one play made a difference.”

While it was not necessarily one singular play that led to the two ETBU victories, there were pivotal points that went the Tigers’ way in both games one and three. In ETBU’s 5-0 win on Friday, with the Tigers up 2-0, Massimini stepped to the plate with two outs and lined a double to right field, tacking on one more run. A complete game shutout from Jagger Neely on the mound defended that lead, shutting out UMHB for the first time this season. 

That two-out double is notable considering ETBU’s two-outing was a trend seen throughout the series. For a pitcher, there is nothing more frustrating than having two outs in your favor, and letting a run slip by. Yet, two of the Tigers’ three runs in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader came with two outs. 

Those are the kinds of plays you find in matchups between a pair of Top 25 teams. Scoring opportunities are hard to come by, and the team that capitalizes when a short window of opportunity arises typically comes out on top. 

Look no further than the aggressive baserunning from Massimini with two outs in the seventh. Standing on second, a wild pitch allowed him to break for third before he turned the corner, and, noticing UMHB catcher Elijah Rodriguez hadn’t yet located the ball near the backstop, sprinted for home. He slid across the plate for a 2-0 lead, and grabbed momentum for the Tigers in an inning that began with Robert Sanford striking out consecutive ETBU batters. 

UMHB did its best, with the series on the line, to answer the three-run deficit in the ninth. Two of the Crusaders’ four hits came in that final inning, and along with a key error, put themselves in position to counter. A ground ball out to second base secured ETBU’s win before that could happen, but as Stawski said postgame, “there’s not a lot of quit in our group.”

“We won’t see that tough of a weekend [pitching-wise] until the national tournament,” Stawski said. “Even if we get into the conference tournament, I’m not sure we’ll see those kinds of arms execute a game plan as well as they did this weekend. Fortunately, that is probably the lowest of the low for us, which is a nice thing to be. Kudos to [ETBU], they did a great job. I like where our group is at.”

UMHB returns to action next weekend, facing LeTourneau in a road series in Longview, Texas. Thursday’s series opener is set for 7 p.m. followed by 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.