(April 11, 2008)--The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team could not overcome Concordia Texas’ quick start and the Cru dropped an 8-2 decision to the Tornados Friday afternoon in Belton. UMHB falls to 25-8 overall and 11-5 in American Southwest Conference West Division play with the loss. Concordia improves to 21-13 overall and 9-7 in the ASC West with the victory.

Concordia took a 3-0 lead three batters into the game when Tom Williams blasted a three-run homer over the right field wall. Chad Thielepape’s RBI single gave the Tornados a 4-0 edge in the top of the third inning and Patrick Mercer stretched the lead to 6-0 with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth. Adam Froeschl ripped a two-run homer off the scoreboard in right-center field to cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh, but that’s as close as the Cru would get. A bases-loaded hit batter and an RBI groundout provided two more insurance runs for the Tornados in the top of the ninth inning and UMHB left a pair of runners on base in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.

R.B. Garza took the loss for UMHB to drop to 5-2 on the season. He scattered 10 hits over seven hits, striking out five and walking one. Ethan Morrison picked up the win for Concordia with seven innings of ten-hit pitching. He struck out eight and walked three while raising his record to 3-4. Marcus Volz had four hits for UMHB, Joseph Villegas added three more and Froeschl and Les Sarles had two hits apiece for the Cru. Bryan Jacobs had three hits for Concordia and Mercer, Williams, Thielepape and Stephen Szkotak chipped in two hits each for the Tornados.

The two teams will close out the series with a noon doubleheader tomorrow in Belton. The Cru will then hit the road for a three-game series at Howard Payne next weekend in Brownwood to close out the regular season.