BELTON, Texas — The Southwestern University Pirates baseball team put together its best offensive performance of the season, scoring 13 runs off 12 hits to defeat the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) Crusaders 13-7 on the road.
Daniel Montgomery Jr. was perfect at the plate, hitting 4-for-4 with seven RBI and two runs scored, blasting his second and third home runs of the series (and fourth of the season) after going yard in Game 1 on Friday night.
The Pirates hit 12-for-31 as a team with 11 RBI and five walks.
Southwestern struck early with a five-run top of the second inning, putting two on with a hit batter and walk and stringing together three hits, starting with a single from Chase Thinger to load the bases. A balk scored Colby Schmidt and Hayden Craig singled through the left side, scoring Ethan Hallmark. Montgomery then cleared the bases with a three-run blast to deep left-center.
The Crusaders responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning, leading off with a Matt Bolin walk followed by three consecutive hits, getting a double from Hunter McQuary, RBI-single from Mitch Patterson, and two-RBI double from Jacob Dellipoali to right-center to score Patterson and McQuary to cut their deficit to 5-3.
Southwestern added four more runs in the fourth. Craig hit a RBI-single through the left side of the infield, scoring Hallmark, who reached on an error. A double steal with runners on the corners advanced Craig to second and scored Seth Sparks.
Montgomery cleared the bases again with his second home run of the day, knocking it over the center field fence for a 9-3 lead.
Mary Hardin-Baylor managed a single run in the bottom of the inning, getting a two-out double from Jack Herbert followed by a Garrett Gonzales RBI-triple to right field.
Southwestern added another four-run inning in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Schmidt on a Cole Kelly RBI-double to left center after Schmidt reached on an error. The Crusaders brought in relief pitcher Dalton Harned, who started his afternoon with a hit batter and walk to load the bases, then walked Thinger for the second run of the inning.
Montgomery capped things off with a two-RBI double to center field, scoring Sparks and Hallmark.
The Crusaders added two runs in the fifth on two hits, scoring on back-to-back sacrifice flies. They added another urn in the bottom of the seventh, getting a RBI from Dellipoal on a fielder's choice and leaving three runners stranded to end the game.
Travis Harvey got the start for the Pirates, pitching five innings and giving up six runs (five earned) on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout. Kole Kimberlin finished the game, going two innings with three hits and a run given up with two strikeouts and a walk.
Southwestern improved to 7-2 with the win in the first game of a doubleheader.