BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 AUSTIN, Texas – Bret Leiferman went 4-for-8 from the plate, driving in a pair, but it was not enough, as the No. 21 Concordia Texas baseball team fell to East Texas Baptist on Saturday in its season-opening doubleheader.

Leiferman entered the day closing in on a couple of the program's career records, including runs scored, doubles and total bases.

After Saturday's doubleheader, Leiferman now sits two doubles away from breaking the school's career doubles record held by Tommy Cantrell (1989-92). He is also tied with teammate Casen Novak and Jesse Ayala (1986-89) for the career program record for runs scored with 154. Finally, Leiferman is six total bases away from owning that career record as well.

In the first game, the Tornados offense struggled at the plate, producing only two hits over seven innings.

The Tigers, meanwhile, opened the scoring, pushing across a run in the first inning after a double to right to make it 1-0.

Concordia Texas' only runs of the game came in the following frame, taking advantage of an ETBU error to allow Corbin Cross to score. The Tornados would load the bases later in the inning as Novak worked a walk. Dalton Watts brought home the second run of the inning on a sac fly to right, giving CTX an early 2-1 lead.

The Tigers responded with a run in fourth and two more in the fifth to grab a 4-2 lead. In the bottom half of the frame, the Tornados once again loaded the bases thanks to walks by Kalen Moreno and Ryan Clouse, but were unable to capitalize as Dubois grounded out to end the inning.

East Texas Baptist added to their lead with three-run sixth and retired CTX in order in the seventh to take the first game 7-2.

In the second game of the day, the Tornados had multiple opportunities to score but could not execute, leaving 15 runners on base and saw their comeback fall short, losing 5-3.

Concordia Texas trailed 5-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, but did not go away easily.

Marcus Thach led off the inning with an infield single, followed by a Novak hit-by-pitch. After a sac bunt to move the runners over, Leiferman doubled to left, scoring both runners and cutting the deficit to 5-2. One out later, Grayson Lee walked and Clouse followed with a bloop single into left to score Leiferman and make it 5-3.

The Tornados would get one more late-inning opportunity in the following frame, loading the bases thanks to an Owen Hill walk, but Grayson Lee went down on strikes, ending the threat as CTX fell 5-3.

Michael Smith had strong debut in his first relief appearance of the season, throwing four innings, where he allowed only a run on two hits and racked up six strikeouts.

The Tornados will look to salvage the series on Sunday, taking on the Tigers in the finale at 1 p.m. from Tornado Field in Austin, Texas.