Photo of Jasson Hemmerling Jr. by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/@lukezayas_photography
BELTON — The moment held immense magnitude. And Jasson Hemmerling Jr. was there to meet it.
Amidst a darkened sky on Saturday night, in a second-straight 10-inning game between UMHB and No. 23/24 ETBU, the senior catcher stepped to the plate. With the score tied, the bases loaded, and two outs in the series finale, Hemmerling faced his biggest at-bat of the weekend.
What was on the line? A series win for UMHB over the reigning ASC champions for the first time since 2017. A victory in The Cru’s final home game of 2025. A fitting send-off at Red Murff Field for the group of committed seniors who were honored prior to the second game of the doubleheader.
With one swing of the bat, Hemmerling accomplished all of it. The Azle, Texas native lined a base hit to right field off ETBU reliever Ethan Brister, scoring Austin Birkhoff from third in a dramatic 8-7 walk-off win. It was a moment nobody in attendance will soon forget, a big-time finish to a big-time weekend for a team that badly needed it.
Since March 28, UMHB had played four four-game series, three against conference opponents. The Crusaders’ record in Game 4s? 1-3. Against LeTourneau, Hardin-Simmons, and UT-Dallas, they dropped the final two games of the series. But against ETBU, who came into the weekend as the ASC’s first-place team, UMHB played with a noticeable edge. All three wins were comeback victories, with Saturday’s victory seeing The Cru twice erase a one-run deficit in the last five innings.
Hemmerling’s walk-off single came in the 20th inning of baseball between UMHB and ETBU on the day, as The Cru felt the agony of a 10-inning, 4-3 loss in Game 1. Blake Long delivered a near-flawless start in that contest, going 4.0 innings with just one hit allowed, as UMHB built a 3-0 lead. But the Tigers countered with three runs between the fifth and sixth innings, and that 3-3 tie remained through the ninth.
ETBU’s William Howard provided the game’s lone scoring play in extra innings, driving in Hunter Rumachik—who had doubled to right field one at-bat earlier—from second. UMHB put two runners on in the bottom of that frame, but failed to score, as ETBU took the 4-3 win, and entered the day’s second game with a chance to even the series at 2-2.
But just as they did on Friday when faced with multi-run deficits out of the gate, the Crusaders stood their ground, refusing to let ETBU’s momentum snowball, especially with a prominent series win over a Top 25 opponent on the line. On only two hits in the first two innings, UMHB pushed four runs across, capitalizing on back-to-back ETBU errors and a sac bunt from Easton Cline for 4-0 lead.
Much like in the day’s first game, the Tigers’ offense came to life in the middle innings, with two at-bats in the fifth inning, both with two outs, changing the situation entirely. The first was Connor Massimini’s double off the wall in left-center field that scored Carson Livesay, bringing ETBU within a run of UMHB’s 4-3 lead. But one batter later, Nathan Harmon launched a home run over the left field wall, driving it on a line into the parking lot beyond Red Murff Field. Just like that, The Cru went from a 4-2 lead to trailing 5-4, forced to climb back from a deficit yet again.
Having seen it on Friday, everyone in both dugouts knew UMHB was capable of doing just that. And after the Tigers extended their advantage to 6-4 in the sixth, The Cru put together its first two-out, game-tying rally of the day, sparked by John Van Huis’ double to deep center field. Three straight singles followed, including RBIs from Tyler Betts and Cline, the second of which dropped into shallow right field and allowed Betts to come around from second, knotting the score at 6-6.
Fast forward to the 10th, and ETBU again took the lead, this time on a balk from closer Isaac Brann with runners on the corners. And again UMHB went to work. Carson Hagan, who singled as part of the sixth-inning offensive stretch, led off with a base hit, but it was followed by two quick outs. With the pressure mounting, Birkhoff sent a double to left field, putting both himself and Hagan in scoring position for Alejandro Sanchez III.
But Brister, needing just one out for the save and a doubleheader sweep, began struggling in his command. He walked Sanchez and loaded the bases, then walked Cameron Talburt, bringing home Hagan—the tying run. Hemmerling’s magic moment came in the at-bat that followed, as his game-winner provided a lasting image of one of the biggest weekends in UMHB Baseball’s recent history.
To take three of four from the ASC’s first-place team? In front of your home crowd? On the final weekend of the regular season? With three comeback wins? Not much more needs to be said. UMHB is set to enter the ASC Tournament with the hottest streak in the ASC, winners of six of their last eight.
Notes from Red Murff Field
- The 3-1 series win for UMHB marks the first time since April 2, 2021 that ETBU has dropped a conference series. The Tigers fell to UTD that weekend, going 1-2 against the Comets.
- The fact that both of Saturday’s games were decided in 10 innings was a rarity, and had never happened in the longstanding history between the programs as ASC opponents. They were, however, the fifth and sixth instances of a matchup between UMHB and ETBU going at least 10 innings, dating back to the 2000 season.
- UMHB is now 4-2 against the Tigers all-time (as a D3 program) in 10+ inning games.
- The 8-7 win in Game 2 was the fourth time since 2021 that The Cru defeated the Tigers by a single run. In fact, nine of UMHB’s last 12 wins over ETBU have come in one-run games, a trend that goes back to 2014.
- Hagan went 3-for-5 in the leadoff spot with two runs scored, marking his fourth 3-hit game of the season. The senior outfielder scored seven of UMHB’s 22 runs in the series.
- Hemmerling went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in Game 2 for his fifth multi-RBI game in 2025. It was his second multi-hit game in the last two weekends, having gone 3-for-5 with three runs in the series opener at Howard Payne.
- Isaac Brann made three appearances in the same series for the first time this season, throwing the ninth inning of Games 1 and 2 and the 10th inning of Game 4. The senior reliever went 2.2 innings, picked up two saves on Friday, and added his first win of the season on Saturday. The southpaw has allowed just one earned run in his last six outings.
- In a noticable difference from previous series this season, UMHB went with two new starters in each of Saturday’s contests. Long made his first appearance of the season with the start in the day’s first game, going 4.0 innings with zero earned runs. Drake Gaines, a sophomore from Waco, took the ball in the series finale in his first start of 2025 and fourth appearance overall. Gaines went 2.1 innings with three hits and two earned runs.
- UMHB drew at least five walks in all four games of the series, including 13 on Saturday (6 in Game 1, 7 in Game 2).
Up Next
UMHB looks ahead to the ASC Tournament, set to begin on Thursday. The Cru will be the No. 3 seed, with the complete tournament field to be announced by the ASC on Sunday. Unofficially, UMHB is expected to face No. 2 seed LeTourneau in their first game of the double-elimination tournament, with ETBU taking the top seed due to the conference’s tie-break policy (ETBU won its series with LETU, 3-1, and ETBU and LETU finished tied atop the standings at 11-5). As the No. 1 seed, ETBU would host the five-tournament, which runs from May 1-May 3. The winner of the league tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
