MARSHALL, Texas -- No. 11 Texas Lutheran Baseball dropped both games of their doubleheader on Friday, falling to #RV Mary Hardin-Baylor 11-1 in eight innings and 13-7 to East Texas Baptist to open the ETBU Spring Classic at Tiger Ballpark at Woods Field in Marshall. The Bulldogs will finish the weekend with a rematch against UMHB on Saturday, March 21, at 11 AM.
In game one,
Brayden Sprencel (Robstown/Calallen) got the start and tossed 2.1 scoreless innings before giving way to
Isaiah Ramirez (San Antonio/Marshall). Ramirez allowed seven runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings of relief.
Texas Lutheran snagged an early lead after starting the second inning with a double down the left field line from
Cole Cravens (Round Rock/Round Rock). A single from
Tyler Helpenstill (Pearland/Lutheran South) moved him over before scoring on an RBI groundout from
Caleb Small (Round Rock/Gateway College Preparatory).
UMHB took the lead in the fourth with five runs off four hits, with three of the hits being home runs.
The Crusaders tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings to walk off the Bulldogs with an 11-1 run-rule victory.
Texas Lutheran held a 6-3 lead in game two before East Texas Baptist put together an eight-run bottom of the sixth to beat the Bulldogs 13-7.
Cooper Jen (Kyle/Hays) went 2-for-5 with a triple, a homer, and two RBI, while
Cole Cravens finished 2-for-4 with a triple and a solo home run.
Jack Grames (Elgin/Elgin) started and was charged with his first loss of the season, going 5.1 innings and giving up ten runs on 11 hits.
Texas Lutheran scored three runs in the first on a two-run homer from Jen and a solo homer from Cravens.
ETBU responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning.
The Bulldogs added three more runs in the third on an RBI single from Bradyen Sprencel and a two-run homer from
Adam Peavy (Houston/Memorial).
East Texas Baptist came right back in the bottom of the fourth with two runs before exploding for eight runs in sixth to take an 11-6 lead. The Tigers scored two more runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 13-6.
TLU got a run back in the ninth on an RBI single from
Aiden Spires (Fort Worth/Arlington Heights) to bring the game to its final score of 13-7.
For more information on Texas Lutheran baseball and all TLU athletics, you can find updates on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics and @TLU_Baseball on X (Twitter), @tlubulldogs on Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok).
