BELTON, Texas - The Howard Payne University baseball team was held to just three hits in its conference series opener at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Friday evening.

In the loss, Matthew Parks (4-3) would strikeout four in the start for the Yellow Jackets allowing three runs on five hits in 7.0 innings of work. Wesley Smith threw the final frame allowing one run and striking out three.

The Jackets got on the scoreboard first in the game when Ian Tyra reached on an RBI fielder's choice that scored David Groves.

UMHB scored two in the bottom of that inning, one in the third and one in the eighth to make the final 4-1 outcome.

Brett Quackenbush, David Groves and Kyle Winstead each recorded a hit for the Yellow Jackets.

The Jackets are now 14-11 overall and 7-6 in American Southwest Conference play. UMHB stands at 14-13 overall and 8-5 in league action. Both teams will finish their conference series with a double header on Saturday starting at 1:00 pm.