ABILENE, Texas - The Concordia Texas Baseball team fell behind 8-0 after three complete innings at Birmingham Southern University and were unable to recover as they 8-2 on Saturday afternoon.

However, the Tornados straightened up enough to outscore the home-standing Panthers, 2-0, over the last six innings.

CTX starter Jake Valadez (0-2) gave up three runs in the second inning, two on a blast over the left-field fence by Preston White. Valadez gave up two hits and a walk with one out in the third when he induced a potential double-play grounder by A.J. Hunt. But the ball was misplayed; two runs scored on the play.

When the inning finally ended the Panthers had scored five runs for an 8-0 advantage after three. Valadez finished with two walks and two strikeouts over the three frames, giving up seven hits and eight runs, only five of them earned.

But right hander Matthew Brown came in and threw four scoreless innings of relief, striking out five and giving up just one hit, who would later be erased on a caught-stealing throw by catcher Gunnar Hollier. Cole Angelle pitched a scoreless ninth inning as well.

Meantime, the Tornados offense started doing some damage to Panthers' starter Stephen Himic (2-0). Caleb Rodriguez singled to start the fifth and moved to second when Bryce Helkamp was hit by a pitch. A fly out by pinch-hitter Jacob Gwynne moved Rodriguez to third, and he would score on a fielder's choice grounder by Luke Kress.

But the Tornados struggled until the ninth to put another crooked number on the board.  Race Mellman greeted new reliever Rich Misischia with a single and, two outs later, scored on an RBI douible by Caleb Maddox. Rodriguez then walked before Bret Leiferman blasted a shot to deep center field.

However, a running catch by Jack Rhodes right in front of the wall ended the game.

The two squads will meet for the series finale at 11 a.m. on Sunday at Striplin Field. That game was originally scheduled for a Noon start but changed on Saturday.