BELTON — It’s been said that a team’s character is revealed most when the spotlight is brightest. And for UMHB Baseball, that spotlight came on Friday afternoon, hosting No. 23/24 ETBU, the ASC’s first-place team, in a series-opening doubleheader on the final weekend of the season.
Twice The Cru faced a multi-run deficit before they even stepped to the plate in the first inning. And like clockwork, UMHB erased the ETBU lead on both occasions, resulting in a statement-making sweep that turned heads across the country.
It marked UMHB’s first doubleheader sweep over the Tigers since 2017, and The Cru simultaneously locked up a Top 3 seed in next week’s ASC Tournament, avoiding the single-elimination No. 4 vs No. 5 seed matchup on Day 1. Even more notable, it is the first time since April 2, 2021 that ETBU—winners of the last three ASC regular season titles—have dropped two games in a single conference series.
Six of UMHB’s first seven batters reached base in the first inning of Game 1, as The Cru countered ETBU’s two-run top of the first with three runs in the bottom of the frame, en route to a 5-4 win. In Game 2, the Tigers put forth an even bigger offensive outburst in the opening inning, taking a 4-0 lead. But sparked by Shane Melick’s solo home run in the fourth, UMHB scored six unanswered, shutting down the ETBU bats and watching their own bats come to life in the late innings of a 6-4 victory.
The Cru handled the pressure of facing a nationally-ranked opponent with poise, anchored by consistency on the mound and firepower from the middle of the order, the main ingredients to perhaps UMHB’s best performance of 2025 to date.
Melick, batting in the cleanup spot, was part of that output seen from UMHB’s No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 hitters — a trio that also featured second baseman Alejandro Sanchez III and designated hitter Austin Birkhoff. Together, Melick, Sanchez, and Birkhoff went 5-for-8 in Game 1 and 6-for-13 in Game 2, contributing 11 of UMHB’s 18 hits on the day.
Their role was most prevalent in the first game of the twinbill. Down 2-0 in the first, Melick’s base hit drove Carson Hagan home for UMHB’s first run, and Sanchez’s sharp single to second base provided the equalizer when Easton Cline crossed the plate. Then came Birkhoff’s go-ahead single to the left side, which brought Melick home from third and gave UMHB a 3-2 lead; a lead that held firm for the remainder of the seven-inning contest.
On the mound, Kolby McBee made the most of the run support, going 6.1 innings as he settled in after the early bump in the first, scattering two runs over the next 5.1 innings before handing the ball to Isaac Brann. Brann recorded the final two outs, inducing a game-ending flyout after Luke Bumpus’ RBI single cut the UMHB lead to 5-4 and put runners on first and second.
Brann took the ball in the ninth inning of Game 2 with yet another opportunity for a save, and made the most of it, shutting the door on any chance of an ETBU rally. While he surrendered a single in the inning’s first at-bat, the senior sat down the next three Tiger batters, closing his fourth save of the season and second of the day.
With ETBU up 4-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, Riley Bender took matters into his own hands for The Cru, helping establish the lead that Mason Semmelmann and Brann protected over the final three frames. Bender, who had an RBI sac fly for UMHB’s first two-run lead of Game 1, lined a single to center field in the seventh, driving in Hagan as the ETBU lead shrunk to two. Melick kept the momentum rolling in the next at-bat with a double to left field that pulled UMHB within one when Easton Cline scored from second.
Then in the eighth, Bender provided the play of the game, swatting a three-run homer well beyond the wall in left field. It was gone as soon as it left the bat, with ETBU left fielder Carson Livesay left with nothing to do but turn and watch the ball—and his team’s one-run lead—sail away. For his part in the victory, Bender went 2-for-5 with 4 RBIs and a run scored, a season-high RBI total for the senior infielder.
From Head Coach Mike Stawski
“We got to see what this group was made of today. We went down in both games and that didn’t slow us. It actually sparked us. Those kinds of teams are really tough to beat, and that was us today…A really tough team to beat.
“I have pounded it in their heads that we want to be playing our best baseball at the end of the season. After a day like today, we may just be doing that!”
Notes from Red Murff Field
- The pair of victories raised UMHB’s record vs current Top 25 opponents (d3baseball.com Top 25 Poll) to 4-2 on the season. The Cru now holds wins over No. 9 Trinity, No. 22 Concordia (TX), and No. 24 ETBU.
- While ETBU hadn’t dropped two games in an ASC series since 2021, the last time the Tigers were swept in a doubleheader in conference play was even longer in the past. Sul Ross State took two from the Tigers on Feb. 29, 2020 in Alpine, winning by scores of 9-8 and 13-9.
- UMHB swept the twinbill despite having fewer hits than ETBU in both games, outhit 11-8 in Game 1 and 12-10 in Game 2. But The Cru also had more baserunners in both cases; the result of patience at the plate and some inaccuracy from ETBU’s pitchers.
- In Game 1, The Cru had five walks to ETBU’s one, and they reached base 14 times (ETBU had 12 total baserunners).
- In Game 2, UMHB added to its 10 hits with five more walks and three batters hit by a pitch, as the Crusaders put 18 runners on base over eight innings at the plate. Three of UMHB’s six runs were scored by players who reached base via hit-by-pitch or a walk.
- The Cru, true to form as the No. 2 base-stealing team in D-III in stolen bases/game, swiped six bases in Game 1, including two from both Carson Hagan and Easton Cline. It was the most stolen bases in a game for UMHB since March 30, when they had six against LeTourneau.
- UMHB’s pitchers allowed just two extra-base hits in each of the day’s two games, marking the 12th time in the month of April that The Cru pitching staff surrendered two or fewer extra-base hits in a single contest.
- UMHB turned a rare triple play in the seventh inning of Game 2, as Bumpus stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and nobody out, ETBU already leading by three. He sharply grounded a ball to Bender at third, who took one step to his right, stepped on the bag for the first out, then threw to second base for a second force out. After receiving the ball at second, Sanchez fired to Melick at first in time, with the throw beating Bumpus by a step to end the inning.
Up Next
UMHB closes its regular season slate at home on Saturday, hosting ETBU in a 1 p.m. doubleheader. The Cru is aiming at its first series win over the Tigers since 2017, and with a sweep, would lock up the No. 2 seed in the ASC Tournament.
