BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2

AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team battled to a split with No. 16 UT Tyler Saturday at Tornado Field. The Tornados (8-8, 3-2 ASC) took the seven inning opener 6-1 while the Patriots (12-5, 4-1) won the nightcap, 7-5.

GAME ONE                

Lane Hobbs continues to perform well on the hill for Concordia as the junior allowed just one run on three UT Tyler hits in a complete-game victory.

Hobbs struck out nine while walking just a pair in the contest.  The only blemish for the pitcher on the day was that he surrendered his first earned run of the season, ending his streak at 30.1 innings.

The Tornados played small ball for their first two runs. Jake Valadez led off the home half of the second with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice from Connor Bertsch.  Similarly, Gareth Hutton opened the third with a double and came around to score on Bret Leiferman's RBI single.

Colton Poindexter's two-run homer in the fourth opened up a 4-0 lead for CTX. The blast was the first for the Tornados in their home yard this season and the third of the year for Poindexter.

Leiferman later tripled to drive in a run and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.

The Patriots scored their only run of the contest after back-to-back doubles in the top of the sixth.

The win was Concordia's 100th at Tornado Field.

GAME TWO

UT Tyler plated four runs in the top of the second to open up the scoring in Saturday's nightcap. Only one of the runs was earned.

The Tornados were able to cut the 4-0 lead in half after two UTT errors and an RBI hit by Race Mellman as well as an RBI fielder's choice from Valadez.

It remained a 4-2 ballgame until the top of the seventh, when the Patriots plated three more to open up a 7-2 lead. Trenton Buchhorn scored the final run on a Concordia error.

The Tornados came into the bottom of the ninth down five but managed to claw back into the contest. Poindexter's two-out, two-run double put the game at 7-5. Garrett Benyo came to the plate representing the winning run with runners on second and third, but unfortunately struck out to end the contest.

The rubber match of the series is tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Tornado Field.