BOX SCORE

Austin, Texas – Jake Irby pitched two scoreless innings in his varsity debut, but the Concordia University Texas baseball team fell to Mary Hardin-Baylor by a 7-0 score on Thursday, March 28 at Tornado Field.

After the two teams failed to score and combined for just two hits through the first five innings with Concordia's Bristan Clingaman and Mary Hardin-Baylor's Kreece Cooper locked in a pitcher's duel, the visiting Crusaders broke the deadlock by tallying two runs in the top of the sixth. Robert Lowe put the Crusaders on the board with an RBI triple to right center and came home two plays later to double the lead on a single through the right side by Tyler Taute.

Mary Hardin-Baylor (12-13, ASC 5-5) then added five insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Taute capped the scoring in the inning with a double to left center that scored Lowe. Concordia made its biggest threat to get on the board in the bottom of the eighth, but reliever Aaron Barteau induced a groundout to second to get out of the major jam.

Bristan Clingaman, who was named to the D3Baseball.com National Team of the Week on Tuesday, suffered the loss for Concordia after being tagged with three runs and allowing five hits over six innings of work. He also recorded five strikeouts and issued three walks. Mary Hardin-Baylor's Cooper picked up the win and improved to 2-2 on the year after allowing only one hit over six frames. He struck out six and issued seven walks. Barteau earned his first save after pitching three scoreless innings of relief. He yielded only two hits while striking out five and issuing just one walk.

Concordia (14-16, ASC 6-4) and Mary Hardin-Baylor will complete the three-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon that starts at 1 p.m. The Tornados will also recognize their 10-member senior class between games.
-agate-
Mary Hardin-Baylor (12-13, ASC 5-5)     000     002     500     7     9     0
Concordia (14-16, ASC 6-4)                    000     000     000     0     3     0
     Mary Hardin-Baylor: Kreece Cooper, Aaron Barteau (7) and Justin Dingman, Robert Lowe (3) and Tyler Massey.
     Concordia: Bristan Clingaman, Trey Pledger (7), Bobby Jones (7), Jake Irby (8) and Tyler Bain.