Abram Choate, SID
BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team's offense overpowered the Yellow Jackets of Howard Payne to complete the doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon in Belton.
UMHB took game one 14-4 and won game two 14-7 to win the weekend series. UMHB improves to 8-10-1 overall and 2-1 in American Southwest Conference play with the two victories. The losses drop the Yellow Jackets to 7-10 overall and 1-2 in the ASC.
UMHB won game one 14-4 behind a combined three-hitter from R.B. Garza and Tanner Vaughan. UMHB broke the game open with 10 runs through the first three innings and coasted from there. The Cru scored four in the first on Adam Froeschl's RBI single, Chase Beyrand's sacrifice fly, Steven Reinlie's RBI triple and Ricky LaFont's RBI groundout. Joseph Villegas' RBI single highlighted a three-run UMHB second. UMHB then added three more in the third on Marcus Volz's three-run double. Froeschl and Reinlie sandwiched RBI singles around a two-run Beyrand double in the fifth as UMHB pushed the lead to 14-1. HPU's final three runs came on a pair of RBI groundouts and Chris Pucci's RBI single. Garza gave up just two hits in six innings and he struck out four to improve to 1-2 on the year. Colby Rowley took the loss for HPU to fall to 1-2 on the year. Kyle Lloyd had two of HPU's three hits.
UMHB won game two 14-7 on the strength of a six-run fifth inning. UMHB grabbed a 3-0 lead when Ricky LaFont singled home two runs and another run scored on a wild pitch. HPU added single runs on a pair of Blake Shaffer RBI singles in the second and fourth. The Cru added six runs in the fifth on Reinlie's RBI double, three bases loaded walks and Villegas' two-run single. Froeschl drove in two more runs in the seventh and UMHB added two more in the eighth inning. Howard Payne scored five runs in the final three innings to close the gap, but could not close to less than six the rest of the way. Corey Dobbins earned the win for UMHB to improve to 2-0. Adam Garcia took the loss for HPU. Ryan Kunz was 3-4 for HPU and Lloyd, Shaffer and James Mays had two hits apiece.
